Waiting for Amber Skyy
by Fyreglyphs
Summary: I'm not normal, but I used to be. I used to be an it, merchandise, mutated by lab freaks. I used to live a normal life, until my 13th birthday when I was thrown into a sack and never got to see my parents again. I used to be an only child, now I have a twin brother who is probably just like me, or similar. I used to dream of touching the sky, now I fly in it. - Pre-Apocalypse -
1. Chapter 1

I heard a low, soft moan as my head hit something hard. "Ah," I gasped as I rubbed the back of my skull. _The hell? What... what happened?_ I heard another moan and assumed it was escaping my lips. I shakily sat up in the dark. I was somewhere, in something, because the floor was metallic, and my claustrophobia was increasing. My arms and hands reached and groped around, feeling cylindrical objects stacked side-by-side. My vision was taking forever to return, the room slowly filtering to my standards. I felt around more, the cylindrical poles were all around me, and I felt my head brush against a roof. I rubbed my eyes to clear the fogginess and opened to see bars all around me, and a low ceiling above. My eyes widened at the cage encasing me. My hair just grazed the top of it as I got on my hands and knees to crawl forward. I gripped the bars tight and tugged on them. No use, they were solid. I cautiously pressed my face against the bars, letting my cheeks feel the cold metal as my eyes scanned around. It seemed like I was in a backroom of some sort. The walls were dark, and boxes were stacked on top of each other, some empty and some... I froze. Those weren't boxes.

They were cages. Cages just like mine.

Fear washed over me as my body started trembling. Were those cages meant for other people? Cages. That must mean I wasn't the only one here. _No. No, no no no no... this can't be right_. People aren't supposed to be in cages. Not even me. I must be in some building that will drug me and use me for something... something bad. _But why the cage? It's like I'm being treated as an animal..._

A door slammed and I jumped to the sound, hitting my head on the cage, again. I silently cursed as somebody wearing a long white coat and nice shoes came to the front of my cage. I didn't dare to look through it, because anybody wearing white meant something horrible. Why? Because who would you think would be wearing a long white coat and be in this situation?

I rubbed my head where I banged it and stiffened when a man's face looked in at me. He had large spectacles on his face and seemed fascinated at me. I shuffled towards the back of the cage because that look on his face didn't spell kindness. I stared at the floor and noticed him unlock the door. I stared at his feet on the outside of the cage and shivered a bit. _Now why would he do that?_ I could just attack his legs and kick him where it hurts easily. _He must be planning something._ I cautiously crawled forward to see what he would do. I might as well go with it so I can find a way out of this place.

I stood up and stretched my back against the cage. The pull felt good from crouching in that cage for so long. How long was I in there? I turned my attention to the man who stood just an inch shorter than me. He got closer to me and I put a hand up ready to slap him and/or punch him in the face. He stopped himself before I attacked him. Then a large, toothy and evil smile spread on his face, making my fear level peak. "Gosh... this is perfect," he said with a thick English accent. _Now what did he mean by_ that _?_ His words stunned me and I didn't realize until a couple seconds after that he grabbed my wrist, something sharp and shiny in his other hand. Everything happened very quickly.

I thrust my foot up to kick him in the balls but hit his gut instead. Close enough. He released his grip on me and I kicked him in the side over and over in anger. I was about to turn around to run to wherever he came from just as large hands grabbed me. I screamed and flailed in their grip just as something sticky was placed over my mouth. _Duct tape,_ I thought as I was pinned against somebody's chest. The person must've been huge because my ear was right next to his/her unsteady heart. The man in the lab coat shakily stood up and hesitantly walked over to me. There was shards of glass on the floor from whatever he dropped.

"The instinct to escape will be a problem, but other than that she's perfect." He pulled out a small tube from his coat pocket and took of its cap. My eyes widened and squirmed around even more. _No, anything but that_. I knew what it was: a sedative. My arm was then swabbed with something and I forcefully jerked it to hit his hand. The grip from the man behind me tightened and I felt something contact with my lower back. I screamed but it was muffled. _Did he just kick me?_ The pain in my back distracted me from the needle going into my arm. I squeezed my eyes shut as the man slowly pulled it out, "Take her to lab seven."

 _Lab? What lab?_ After he pulled out the needle I tried thrashing around again in a last attempt to get free, but my motions were slowing down. My body started growing numb and I whimpered, not wanting to fall into their hands. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I lost all feeling in my legs. My body was then lifted off the ground and slung over the man's shoulder. I whimpered one last time before darkness swallowed me.


	2. Chapter 2

I heard another low moan that sounded dry and cracked around the edges. I knew it was me because my throat rattled. I peeled my eyes open and hazily blinked at the bars of the cage encasing me. I was back. I wasn't dreaming before. Sobs caught in my throat as I shakily curled into a ball. There was no way for getting out, I knew it. I contemplated on the thought of that strange man who was able to control me earlier, but my mind wandered to something brushing against my leg. It felt like... fur. _What the hell?_ Sitting up, I looked down and noticed the end of what seemed to be a cheetah's tail. My body went rigid and I tried to wonder how a cheetah got into my cage. Yet I heard no growling or heavy breathing of the sort, and I followed the tail slowly with my eyes, wondering where it was connected to. It got to the point where I had to continuously turn in circles because it seemed to be attached to-

 _No way…_

I reached back shakily with my left hand and stroked the cheetah tail, a shiver running down my spine. This isn't possible, it can't be, there's no way. At first I just thought it was a joke, like a fake tail they clip to the back of your jeans or something of the sort. But there were several factors that proved me wrong: 1. I wasn't wearing jeans and/or shorts, just a short, white hospital gown loosely tied in the back. 2. Once I touched the tail and stroked it, it made my spine tremble from the touch, concluding it was connected to my spine. 3. I could feel where it connected in the back, the fur trailing up my spine but fading to my normal skin at the base of my neck.

Whatever this sorcery was, I felt like I was in deep, literal s***. Not only did I have a tail, but I could barely feel feathers protruding from my shoulder blades. They seemed connected to the bone, and I had a feeling they might develop into something I have dreamed of ever since I was little. My ears felt itchy as well, and when I reached up to scratch them, I felt fur. Tears welled up in my eyes as I hugged my knees tight to my chest. My wrist had a strange object that made it easier to draw blood from me, and it was sore. A bruise slowly darkened around the puncture area. I also noticed the bruise travel up further on my arm, but it was darkening to a green color, and seemed as smooth as scales on a fish. I choked, trying to understand what was happening to me. I ran my finger over the soft-as-scales area and felt no pain, like it was etched into me, like a tattoo. _But if it was a tattoo, it would leave a bruise, and it would be painful. No, this was real_. They must've put something inside of me to change me into this monster... freak... thing! The weird thing too was how fast it grew on me. Either I was out for a _long_ time or they had a fast application process for this… whatever this is.

I curled tighter, if possible, into my little ball of freak-ness; my newfound tail wrapped around me and ears folded against my head while I silently sobbed over the fact that I was alone in the hands of insane men in white coats.


	3. Chapter 3

Days passed, no... weeks passed... well it felt like weeks without any contact with the white coated men. I have tried to stay awake, to keep myself from getting caught in their clutches to make me more into a freak. But that was impossible, and nearly every time I woke up, I was given an apple, or water, or something that should be edible but tasted like rubber. I never knew if they did more crazy things to me...

I heard a door squeak open and I didn't glance over because I was too fascinated with my twitching tail. What can I say? I am easily entertained. Plus, there wasn't really anything else to do. My ears twitched towards the sound though, and I nearly freaked again. The feeling was still startling, but when was the last time I heard a door open? Yesterday... I think; there's no source of outside light for me to judge time. I could faintly hear the sound of wheels rolling and clanging in the distance, but I didn't think much of it. They're probably just trading or moving boxes for storage and whatnot.

"Oh jeez, I can't wait to dissect this one," I heard from a young man's voice. My body stiffened. I couldn't help but glance towards a group of swaying white coats. _He better not, I don't want to be dissected like a frog._

"Careful Alexander, Subject 4MB3R tends to be feisty," another man spoke. _Damn right_ , I thought, inching closer to hear. There were three of them there. I heard my stomach rumble out of hunger; then I heard the scratching of pencils against paper. Now what did that imply? They were jotting down notes of my hunger? Like I'm an experiment. _Well, I won't let them treat me like one_. They murmured in hushed voices as my stomach rumbled once again. I could faintly hear "days" and "metabolism." Accordance with the topic, they placed a hunk of meat (it looked decently cooked and smelled like a medium rare one) on the floor. A _hunk of meat_. _Now this is new,_ I thought as I felt my saliva build up. My door unlatched and the men instantly backed up like I was going to pounce like a crazy animal.

Well they were wrong.

I sat there, staring at the piece of meat, telling myself to not eat it. My stomach screamed at me to do so, but I had the brains in this relationship. _No way am I going to fall for this_. _They're testing me to see my instincts_. _I'm smarter than them._

Instead of pouncing out towards the meat, I launched out and attacked some legs. Shouts erupted from them as I bit hard into a calf. I clawed at him and kicked other legs as much as I could.

 _They deserve this_ , I thought as my knee collided with a skull.

 _This is all of their fault_.

My teeth closed around an ankle.

 _They're the monsters._

I tasted blood.

 _They're the insane ones._

A man went down and I jumped onto his torso.

 _They're the ones who are going to die._

My hands gripped the man's neck.

 _They're going to-_

I shrieked when a jolt of fire sprung within me. It was excruciating, especially around my neck, like needles piercing everywhere on my skin. My hands flew up to my neck and felt something. It was a collar that emitted the stinging and was as tight as a leash on a vicious dog. My screams did nothing to ease the agony.

I don't know how long it lasted, because it felt like forever. I finally peeled my eyes open to see one of the men I attacked being helped... upside down. _What? That doesn't_ \- Pain struck my shoulder blades and I winced, the burns from the shock collar were developing everywhere on my body. Again the pounding contacted my shoulder blades, over and over, like somebody was walking. Somebody _was_ walking, and it was another large man who was carrying me over his shoulder. He held my leg on his shoulder, not caring that I was getting hit in the shoulder blades with some hard object in his back pocket. It felt like metal, and it didn't occur to me what it was until I was blinded by a bright light. It couldn't be a belt or a phone. My heart pounded up into my ears, blood gushing towards my brain.

A gun. He was going to execute me.


	4. Chapter 4

The air escaped from me as I fell from the man's back like a sack of potatoes. Breathing heavily and rubbing my neck, I shakily sat up. I squinted and tried to understand where I was. Grass scratched against my bare legs and a bright light source beat down. It was like the sun, it _was_ the sun, and it felt good on my skin. _When was the last time I've been outside? Weeks? Months?_ It felt like forever. And this place... it looked like a military training ground... but more intense looking. That's probably due to the twelve-foot tall fence with barbed wire wrapped around the top encasing the area. There was no way to get out, and digging was out of the question. I wouldn't be surprised if it was an electric fence too. There were also many men, very large and extremely toned men. It was like they were on steroids or something. Yet, they were running around just like a military camp. They didn't even need the massive tires and climbing walls, they were muscular enough. Some wore shirts and I could still see their bulging pecks from a mile away.

That was new too. I could easily see their faces and design of the fence far away from me. I could see the twining of it, and I could see distant, brown hills around. No cities. No nothing. It was like I was in a desert, but the ground was speckled in bushes and green. _Where am I_?

I moved my legs to stand, but as soon as I did so, I was knocked down again by something hard on the soft spot between my collarbone and shoulder. My spine jolted and I gasped; my hand instinctively flew up to the area where I was hit. I fell to my stomach, about to curl up when a boot pressed down on my back. It wasn't heavy, but it kept me pinned in the dirt.

"Well lookie here, we got some fresh meat," said the man with the boot. I tried to wriggle my way out from underneath but he put more pressure on me to keep me still. There were murmurs behind me and I was guessing it was those damn white coats again. Once the weight was lifted off my back, I was tempted to swing around and attack. Yet, I was afraid I'd get the shock treatment again. Instead I kept still for a bit before turning around and looking up at the group of seven, steroid-jacked men. _What are they going to do to me? They wouldn't... no_. I started to scramble away, and a few were about to lunge at me, but the man in front held a hand up and spoke in a firm tone, "You know the drill boys."

His voice sounded familiar, like I knew him from somewhere. I shook my head and stood up, still holding my shoulder as I stared down the men. They were large, very large, at least six-foot tall each. The muscles on their arms were about the size of my head. _Jesus,_ I thought. I knew I couldn't win against them in hand-to-hand combat... but they were big, bulky men. I bet they couldn't outrun me. I continued staring at them and I could tell a few of them were agitated.

"Oh come _on_ already!" one shouted, jumping up and down, eager for a good chase... for me.

I mentally smirked as another man stated, "I can't stand still for long, Jacob! Make her move!"

 _Jacob? How come that sounds familiar?_

"Okay that's it!" one of them grunted, pushing through the group. The man in front turned and swung his fist, but the too-eager-man dodged and lunged at me. _Okay, time to run_.

I spun around and kicked my feet back in an attempt to sprint. I tripped, nearly face-planted, but caught myself. I felt my white hospital gown snag from some sort of knife, or claw swiping at me. I concluded it had to be a knife, cuz this man can't have claws. As I pushed my legs to go faster, I had to glance back to see how close he was. I screamed.

He wasn't a man, he was some sort of werewolf thing. He had a snout, and his head was replaced by the head of a wolf. He was covered in fur, and guess what... he had claws. He grinned at my scream and growled, "I'm going to eat you, you little kitten." He then howled, and out of the corner of my eye, I could see the others advancing on me. _No, I have_ got _to get out of here!_

I focused all my energy in my legs, breathing heavily, and I felt myself run a bit faster. I noticed something ahead, a large tire, and I aimed to jump over it. As I got closer, I felt a searing pain rake across my back and through the fabric. My back stung as I struggled to keep up the pace. I felt my hair get snagged and I had to turn to dodge the tire before running into it. I continued to focus on my speed, and I noticed that everything around me was fuzzier than me on an average run. The man was still on my heels, so I focused even more so. Lines streaked past me and I didn't feel the hot breath of that man again. I glanced back, seeing oddly shaped figures.

Suddenly my body struck something and I somersaulted back a few feet. I tumbled in the grass and once I came to a complete stop the pain finally settled in. My mouth opened to scream, but only gasps escaped. My heart was beating in my brain, in my toes, everywhere. I grabbed my head and curled up on my side. Everything, everywhere, hurt. I knew I broke something, but it felt more like everything. The pounding pain muffled the voices above me, and I suspected a few of them to be those wolf men. I barely felt the pinch of my arm but didn't think much of it; I was too focused on making this pain go away.

The ground fell away from me and fur rubbed against me. Closing my eyes, I tried to focus on ignoring the pain. A furry hand pressed against my forehead and I heard a muffled voice say something like "concussion." The hand didn't seem harsh and rude, more like a soft gesture. I wriggled away from it; these freaks are trying to trick me. I heard more bits and pieces of conversation. The words "speed," "mutation," and "Jacob" slurred out... _Wait, did I hear a name_? Again, it sounded so familiar. When the word was spoken, whoever's grip on me tightened slightly, and I felt being pulled closer to that person's chest.

I finally opened my eyes, the world still hazy but visible enough so I could look at the man's (who's holding me) face. He looked straight ahead as he carried me back into the building. It seemed as if he was "morphing" back to his original self or something. I could faintly see fur retracting back to smooth skin. His chin seemed too perfect with the bits of fur on his neck, and I could make out a dark mark just under his left ear. Then the dark fog returned to my vision along with a headache with, I guess, from whatever they injected me with. I tried to decipher who this man was by his face, by that mark, before I was sucked into blackness, again. Just as a door opened and all feeling left my body, I realized who he was.

Jacob, my boyfriend before I was kidnapped.


	5. Chapter 5

I was locked in my cage for what felt like a good week. I have no idea why, but probably due to the little incident with the wolf men. They gave me minimal food despite my growling stomach. Nearly every day I threw up even when there was nothing in me. As much as I wished they'd all go die in hell, I needed better supervision because they didn't care about me. I was their experiment, testing my metabolism and s***. They were going to do whatever they wanted to do on me, but I wasn't going to let that happen.

One time I pretended I was asleep while they brought a tin bowl of rotten food. Little did they know that when they opened my cage door that a ferocious me was going to attack them. Whatever was happening to me, I was slipping into a more feral side of myself, mixed with whatever else. There were two of them there, and I'm pretty sure one of them later died.

 _Good, they should be dead for what they're doing._ I didn't care if I killed one of them; they have no right to treat me like I'm an animal… even if I have these freakishly additions. After what happened, realizing what I truly did and crying myself to sleep, I tried to focus on the real danger there. I had to at least _try_ to stay sane despite my animalistic instincts. Every now and then I would jump at the littlest sounds and growl deeply, like a lion, and then I would curl into a ball and cry. I was scared of myself, of what I was capable of, and of what would become of me. Speaking of, the feathers on my back grew, and I had some control over them as well. They were like an extra pair of arms. As long as I didn't start singing a mating song to the white coats, I was fine.

Then something different happened.

The door to the storage room creaked open, and I heard wheels squeaking against the tile floor. I was half asleep when two people came in. One must have been female, because I could hear high heels clicking against the floor. The sound reminded me of an old teacher I had. That was another thing too. My memory was slowly creeping back into my mind. I had a dream once, and it was a recurring dream of an old teacher threatening to make me disappear. Well she was right about that then. The woman talked to the white coat while I silently listened to her chatter:

"Subject 4MB3R-001, am I correct?" the woman asked the man. 4MB3R. That was all I could catch from my experiment number. It wasn't my number, it was my name. It was now engraved in my mind that it was my only source of true memory.

"Y-Yes Director," stuttered the man. He was afraid of her, I could hear it through his voice. She must be the fat cat of this entire facility.

"Well then, according to these notes here… she… gets violent when agitated?" she asked in a concerning voice.

"Yes ma'am."

"But she's quiet and silent most of the time."

"Yes ma'am."

"And I bet she doesn't like experimented on, which I understand." _Understand? I doubt that lady understands how it's like to be treated like a lab rat!_

"Yes ma'am, but it's still developing." It, he calls me it despite she actually treats me more humanely in her words. "If you can see from the x-rays, its wings are slowly growing. We just recently tested its speed. You can't dispose it now, we don't have enough information to see if it will fulfill its duty."

There was a pause as the man's coat swayed. As they talked, I slowly inched closer to try seeing who was there. Once I bent my head to catch a glimpse of the Director-woman, she spoke up harshly, "I know of your upkeep with this one, but it's going on longer than expected."

"But ma-"

"Get a dog to transfer her. She's under my supervision now." She walked away while her heels clacked against the floor. I bent down to at least catch the back of her before she left. The door opened and one of the werewolf guys walked in, blocking my view for just a second before she disappeared. She had long brown hair, that's all I could make out.

The werewolf lifted me onto a cart of some sort, and spun me around to be rolled out the same door. I clenched the bars to remain steady as he harshly pushed out the door and into a long hallway. There were a couple coated men walking around, standing, talking to a colleague and what not. I took short glances at them as well as focusing on where I was going. None of them bothered to look at me. It was probably a normal thing, to see a freak like me to be rolled around. The hall seemed endless, until we came upon a large glass door. It slid open and was welcomed with a large computer room. I crouched as normal, everyday people glanced at me from their work desks. Their faces were different from the white coats: cold, arrogant, and down-right scary. I was a dog, an animal, a creature nobody wanted to see. I just wanted to curl into a ball and wish I had the power to be invisible.

Rolling past them, the dog paused at a large door. I stared at it while the wolf man behind me grabbed a handle and pulled. I was pushed through it and I couldn't believe my eyes. There were cages everywhere, in rows around the large room. There were various sizes of them, and I suspected to see different animals in them while I went past. Instead, I buried my face in my bare knees, not daring to look at the terrified yet curious eyes peering out at me.

Those weren't animals, those were kids, just like me.


	6. Chapter 6

I had to admit, I was terrified of what was going to become of me. There were kids in these cages that didn't even look like kids. It was horrible, yet somehow they were still alive. I wrapped my arms around my legs tightly, sniffing back incoming tears. Now I know I'm not the only one of this whole bunch of mutated kids. That made my spirits rise just a bit more, knowing I wasn't the only one, but knowing that there were other kids helpless just like me brought it down again. I rubbed my eyes to keep from crying _. I'm not weak, I can get through this_.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when a hand gripped a bar from my cage. I hit my head on the top of the cage and cursed silently. _Damn, that's starting to happen more now_. The hand seemed to have a death grip on the bar, like it was going to break it, but it seemed so frail that itself would break. Gulping, I followed the arm connected to the hand into the cage next to me. I was thoroughly surprised. There was a boy who had magnificent wings behind him. His hair was dark, and his eyes were bigger than his stomach. He opened his mouth to speak, but all that came was a gasp of thirst. It was sickening, to see a young boy to be deprived of anything. He seemed no older than ten years old.

I moved my fingers slowly to touch his, and when we made contact, his hand shot back into his cage like I electrocuted him. Bringing my hand back to my body, I looked at the boy curled up in his cage. His wings were large, mottled, and I betted that if he spread them out, they would be at least ten feet long. His eyes looked at his hand, then at me, than back at the bottom of his cage, then back at me, then back at his stomach which growled loudly.

"Hungry?" I managed to ask, yet my throat rattled. _When was the last time I actually spoke_? He froze at my statement, and I sent a reassuring glance that I wasn't saying anything rude about him. Yet, after a while, he nodded in response. Okay good, he knows English at least.

"What's your name?" I asked again, wanting to at least make some small talk. I kept my voice low though, so just he and I could chat without the workers knowing. He hesitated on his answer, then responded, "I don't know."

 _Well that was sad_ , "Do you remember anything before coming here?" Maybe he ended up here just like me.

He shook his head in reply, "No." His voice was soft but also raspy from lack of water. "Just… this." He must be referring to this place.

"How long have you been here?" I adjusted myself to a better position. The more information I get, the easier it will be to get out of here.

"Four months," he ran his hand over one of his feathers. Dear god. _Am I going to be here that long?_ I gulped and asked:

"Do you have a family?"

"No."

"Where you from?"

"Here."

His statement took me slightly off guard. He said he was from here, this place, and it made no sense. "What do you mean, _here_?"

"I was created here," he said with sadness in his voice. He ran a hand up his arm, revealing the scars from experimentation and whatnot. That was horrible, being created… _but is that even possible_? "They… made me."

"M-" I paused. "..made?"

"They made me," he choked on his words. Jesus Christ that is horrible. He wasn't born like normal people, he was created, like out of a test tube, with no recollection of living a normal life. He was bred to be experimented on.

I placed a hand over my mouth to keep myself from letting my jaw drop in awe, "I'm… I'm so sorry…" I knew my statement really had no effect on what is happening now, so I just resorted back to hugging my knees. My eyes couldn't help but glance at his wings and his large, dark eyes caught mine. _I wonder…_ "Can you… can you really fly?" I stuttered out with nervousness in my voice.

He shot me a look that was a mix of pain, sadness, and embarrassment. He tugged his knees closer to his body and slowly nodded, "Y-… Yes…" With his answer, I reached back to feel the feathers slowly growing from my shoulder blades. They were growing, and I wondered if I'll have the same wings as him. He gave me a good look over and put a hand to his mouth, "Oh…"

Looking back at his expression, I glanced down at myself. Growing wings, freakish ears and a tail, scale-looking-and-feeling-tattoos… "Yeah… I'm a freak," I choked on the last word.

He shook his head, but his shake slowly subsided to a soft nod. Tears welled up in my eyes and I balled up my hands into fists. I was a freak. I was part of those men's experiments. I was an experiment… and they didn't care if I had a normal life before all of this. "It's okay to cry," he said softly to me. I glanced up from staring at my knees to see him leaning towards my cage. The bars made indents on his tan skin.

I shook my head in reply and rested my chin on my knee, "Crying is never okay. It makes you weak."

He shook his head in a serious manner, "Crying is okay. It doesn't show that you're weak, it shows you've been strong for too long." I stared into his dark brown eyes while taking in what he said. He was right. I've been using my strength up all this time, I haven't let it go. With that, I let the waterfall come. I sobbed, tears running down my face as I leaned against the bars of my cage. My body shook as I cried, letting all my strength run out of me. I was scared, terrified of what was to come. I cried for at least ten minutes. After the rain stopped, I sniffed while he just sat there in silence. Finally he asked, "Better?" he asked in a sweet voice. I shakily nodded and he gently smiled at me.

I turned my face to look at him, "Thank you."

"No problem," he adjusted himself and folded his wings behind his back. He gave me one last look over as he laid on the floor of the cage, "Do you have a name?"

I copied his position and shrugged, "I did… but I can't remember it."

He gave a face like he was thinking hard, "Do you know your number?"

"Number? Like… experiment number?" _Where was he going with this?_

"Yeah."

I thought a bit, remembering what the Director said, "4… 4MB3R… that's all I remember them saying."

He ran his finger against the bottom of his cage, writing letters or something. "It looks like… Amber…" _Amber… that was a great name_. His fingers moved swiftly on the ground of his cage, like he knew how to spell despite his lack of education. It was amazing. "My number is 1LI0N-01…" he whispered as he traced his fingers. I copied him, seeing the numbers look like…

"Ilion?" I asked out loud. Trying to depict names from our numbers was just odd.

He shrugged and curled into a ball, "The number doesn't make sense." I faintly saw tears in his eyes from the dim light above us. I thought a bit more as I looked at the traced numbers, knowing it was impossible to find a name through them.

"Why don't you make up your own name?" I asked. He gave me a questionable look, like he never considered that option. He looked back down at the numbers and responded with:

"Leon… I like that name," he said quietly. I heard a door open and the squeal of tires rolling across the tile floor. Somebody was here, and we had to keep quiet. A cage with some… thing… was rolled past us and I acted like I was sleeping. Whatever- I mean whoever that was didn't look normal.

"Well Leon," I breathed so only he could hear. He turned his head to look at me, copying my stance to pretend as well. "You should get rest." He softly smiled at me and closed his eyes.

"You too Amber," he replied. I smiled a bit, closing my eyes and slowly drifting to sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

It was actually quite nice to be friends with Leon. In between tests and experimentation, we were always placed right next to each other afterwards. We comforted each other after tough times and encouraged each other when we felt weak… well… I mostly did that. He was so young, I felt like I should be the one doing so.

One day, I was alone in my cage waiting for Leon to return from a test. He was gone much longer than usual, and it bothered me to no end. Every now and then I would kick or punch the bars of my cage, and sometimes I would hear one of those werewolf guys shout 'hey' at me. I didn't care. I wanted to make sure my friend is okay. Bruises formed on my knuckles.

I sent another punch to my cage, making the bars rattle and my hand throbbing in pain. The frustration and worry in me dismissed the pain while one of the guys walked over to me. He bent down and stared in. It was that one guy, Jacob or something from days or weeks ago.

"Shut the hell up, or you're going to get it," he barked at me. I just stared at him in response. He looked into my eyes, and I looked into his. It was him, my boyfriend, now a heartless werewolf who dined on my flesh.

"J-… Jacob…" I muttered to myself. He grinned evilly in response. He and I dated far before my birthday. The dim light didn't give me enough to see how much he changed, but I could remember past features. He was tall, at least a head taller than me, so that would be… like 6 feet. He had black hair and blue eyes, a trait that I always loved in him. We also had a lot in common, but now I wasn't for sure.

"Hello subject 4MB3R," he said with a snarl. "Glad to have you with us." He squat down and I could see the tension in his leg muscles. I remember him being really strong, but I couldn't remember him having a lot of the bulge.

I bit back at him, "My name is Amber. I'm not a number."

He chuckled, "Not here mutant, you're always a number here." Mutant, that word made me cringe because it was true. I set my jaw and he chuckled. "I bet you're wondering why I am here."

 _Now how did he know that? Can he read my mind or something_? I didn't respond and he continued on. "I've always been working for ITex, ever since I was born. Even when we were dating." That made me stiffen. _What did that imply then_? "You were a pretty girl back then, even as a freshie." I blinked at the memory. I was a freshman in high school, just starting the year, and of course I fell in love with the hottest senior. Strangely enough, he liked me back. "I never did like you as a person, you were my mission. I had to like you in order to finish it. Young, adopted at birth, lived with Sally and Victor Hammond-"

"What?" I blurted out in the middle of his sentence. His eyes glared at me like he was going to rip out my tongue. But he let me take in his words. "I'm not adopted! Those are my parents! My actual parents! You're lying," I growled at him. No way was that true. My mother and father love me, and care for me, and they are my parents. They even look like me. My dad was a redhead before he started to lose hair.

Jacob just shrugged at me with a smirk on his face, "They may be your parents, but not biological. I'm pretty sure..." He turned his body to pull something from behind his back. A file came out, a pretty thick one too. He opened it and flipped through the pages until he got to one. "Sally and Victor Hammond. Young couple, Sally unable to produce eggs, both agreed to take in the girl-"

"You're lying," I lowly growled at him.

"Sally and Victor both had unexplained jobs, Sally was a computer technician for Itex, although she claimed she worked for the government," he continued despite my statements.

"Stop," I said, trembling at his words. It's not true, not true, not true.

"Victor worked along with his wife, in a different department. They knew that taking in the girl was part of their work-"

"Stop!" I yelled at him again.

"Daughter captured on birthdate, July 1st, both Sally and Victor didn't comply to Itex standards to give up the girl at the designated age. Sent in former executioner Jacob to rally them, telling them they had to give her up. They refused until she was captured. Now undergoing DNA testing and modification for a different project-"

"Stop!" I screamed as loud as I could, tears streaming down my cheeks. It couldn't be true, it couldn't. My heart pounded and I longed to see my parents again, demanding for the truth. But if I saw them again, they would look down on me. They would think I'm not their daughter anymore, just an experiment, an object, a thing that belonged to Itex. I was just a pawn in their game. I was set up. I was living a lie. It made me sick. I gripped the bars of my cage and stared down at the damp edge where my tears pooled. It can't be true, it just can't. My knuckles were white from my hold. If it was true, my parents only adopted me for the sake of being experimented on. They knew my fate. So why was I kept longer than usual? And if they weren't my real parents, who are my real parents? My real family? My whole life was a lie. My eyes started to dry as if I ran out of tears. I blinked, wanting to shroud the world in front of me, looking for a silver lining. But it was no use, this was my life now.

Jacob shuffled a bit to a stand and pulled out the file again, flipping through it and scribbling something down. I could faintly hear him moving under the sounds of my dry sobs. My body trembled from the information. But I was also trembling from anger. This was the truth, and I had to face it one way or another.

Before Jacob could walk off, I thrust my hand out of my cage and grabbed onto the fabric of his pants. He stumbled, and I gripped his ankle, squeezing hard and digging my nails into his skin. How dare he do this to me. How dare _they_ do this to me. A warm substance reached my fingers just as his boot locked with my wrist. I felt it crack and I let out a yelp of pain, retreating my hand back into my cage. I cradled it, my wrist surely broken from the impact.  
"You little freak," I heard Jacob growl. Another yelp escaped from my lips as my cage was lifted, and I slammed towards the bars as he held it up. He shook it hard, making my body thrash around with new bruises to come. "I never loved you anyways!" That struck a deeper chord inside me. It reminded me of a moment when we were on a past date, way long ago, at a movie, when he said he loved me. For what reason, I couldn't remember, but that moment sparked in my mind.

My cage continued to rattle, pain erupting every which way, until shouts from white coats told him to stop. It took another werewolf freak like him to hold him back, letting my cage fall at a strange angle. It rattled Leon's empty cage next to me as well as the kid's on the other side. A strangled cry emitted from the other cage as he/she fled to the back corner. I collapsed against the bars without words, just a gasp as my body landed in a strange position. Voices sang around me with concern and threats. I couldn't see Jacob, but I hoped he was going to be put on a short leash. I loved him; I loved the fake him. I loved my parents; I loved the fake parents I had. I loved my life; I loved my fake life that was bred to become a freak. It was sickening, all of it. I'd rather be dead than alive. This is not what I imagined the rest of my life was going to be.

Closing my eyes, my cage was placed properly back on the ground, and my body shifted against the metallic floor. Murmurs of discontent and worry flushed over me. Even when I was an object in their minds, they were worried about me, well they were worried that the "merchandise" was being damaged. I heard them say that. Despite my freakiness and being experimented on, they wanted me unharmed. Well they were pretty much failing with that. My mental state was shattered because of them. I heard the door squeak as I felt a gentle hand brush my broken wrist. I winced and the hand moved to my body, nudging me towards the exit. With my eyes closed, I didn't bother to open them and face reality in front of me. My sole purpose was to be experimented on, and I had no way to argue with that.


	8. Chapter 8

I shakily crawled back into my empty cage, my wrist heavily bandaged and my cheeks stained with tears. I never stopped crying when they fixed my wrist back in place, put me in an x-ray to make sure I didn't break anything else, and nudged me back into the only safe haven I had, a cage. Well it wasn't really a safe haven now, it was just a resting area until I was called for the next test. I closed my eyes and curled up on my side on the floor, hearing the door close behind me. I tried to focus on what I saw on the x-ray despite my crying. It was a full body x-ray, and thankfully no other bones were broken, but my bones were much different than they originally were. They were larger and thicker than normal, and in some areas they were connected with holes through them. Like a bird's. The few words I picked up from the white coats were "air sacs" and "vitamin D." I was developing, slowly, into more of a freak. That just added onto my emotions more, and I felt more water drip down my face.

"Amber?" I faintly heard beside me. I spun my head towards the voice, and I gasped at the sight. Leon had bruises all over him as well as various cuts and burns. He looked like he was sent through a shredder and somehow survived. My hand flew to my wet face to cover my mouth and Leon shivered and attempted to hug himself. He was in great pain, I could tell from his face. Every twitch and touch his mouth turned and/or twisted in an odd way.

"Oh my god Leon…" I stretched my good arm through the bars into her cage, brushing his shoulder and making him wince. He scooted a bit further from me, "Leon oh my god what happened?" My heart raced in fear of what they were doing to him and in anger of wanting to kill them for doing this.

He swallowed and let out a shuddering breath, "A-A maze… I-I had to run th-through a maze…" His voice was thick, like his lip got cut.

"A maze? Or a death trap?" I raised an eyebrow. My statement got him to smile a bit, so that's a plus. He had to take a moment to calm down, and I didn't want to force him to say anymore, but I also wanted to know just in case I had to go through that.

"Both…" he silently replied. "I h-had to find the exit, running, c-couldn't slow down… o-obstacle-" He froze when I placed my hand on his shoulder. I was stretching as much as I could to touch him, to make him feel better; it made me sick to see him battered up. Yet as soon as I got to touch him he spun to whisper harshly at me, smacking my hand away, "What are you doing?"

I held my good hand close to me, like it hurt him even more, "I just… you look terrible…" That made him stiffen in pain at that, making my insides churn in sadness. "Leon…" I cooed at him, wanting to just get him healed up and better. I glanced around the dark room, squinting in the hopes of finding a first aid kit. _They should have a damn kit here! What if some emergency happened to us? Or at least to the white coats?_ Leon was ignoring me and was too busy looking at his shoulder like something was burned into it. His eyes were wide with wonder and he kept looking over the rest of her body. "Leon?" I asked with concern. _Did I hurt him more? Did they hurt him more? I'll kill them all._

"A-Amber… what… what was that?" he asked towards me with big eyes.

"What was what?" I echoed.

His eyes pointed towards his shoulder, which seemed fine. We exchanged glances and I wondered what he meant. "Amber…" he started, but his choking cut him off. I don't know if it was out of sadness or fear, but apparently in his case it was surprise. He lifted the sleeve on the other shoulder. It was heavily gashed by something sharp, like he ran through a fence. "I… I had the same marks on the other side…" he struggled with his words.

"Yeah…? And?" I was so confused on what he was getting at. His other shoulder was fine, like nothing happened. Wait hold on a second. _Like nothing happened_. Nothing was there. His shoulder _was_ fine, like it had miraculously healed itself. It seemed like Leon could heal quicker than usual, probably some weird mojo with his mutation, but this was something more. "Uh… how did that happen?" I questioned him and he shrugged.

"I don't know, you're the one who touched me!" he exclaimed out of fear. I hushed him to keep his voice low so we wouldn't attract attention. He half-heartedly groaned and repeated his statement in a harsh whisper.

"I didn't do that, I don't even know how to do that," I replied under my breath. I felt fur brush my feet and I nearly jumped. What was- oh right forgot that's my tail. Holding it down with a hand, I examined his perfect shoulder.

"I felt it, I felt… fuller, healthier when you touched me. Like a… like a wave of energy!" he nearly cried out. I pulled my finger to my lips to remind him and he obliged. "Amber you have an _ability_. You can transfer energy!" he whispered with happiness. "And energy is used to heal… oh my _god_!"

"A _what_?" my suspicions rose over the fact that a secret organization was creating mutated children. Because who would think of that? "That's impossible. Only superheroes can do that."

"Not just superheroes, whatever they are, I've seen it before. This one kid, he um, was a, I can't remember, some mutation and could attract metal," he mimicked a magnet stuck to the roof of his cage. "He was always thought to be missing because nobody could find him. Once they found out about it though…" His voice trailed off excitement lane into unwanted memories.

"What? What happened?" I begged him to tell me.

He kept his pause before starting his response with a sigh, "I never saw him again." My hand clapped over my mouth. "I heard that he was sold, to be a weapon." Like he was merchandise. He was, that's all he was.


	9. Chapter 9

So of course, I tried to keep that "ability" to a minimum. But it was difficult, especially when I saw some of the kids that came back from testing. I could only reach out to the few cages beside me. At first some of the kids were startled, just like Leon, but soon craved for it once back in their cages. Not only did they press their bodies against their cages towards me, but they cried out when I told them I was too tired to help them. It was draining, and I usually ended up sleeping off the energy I gave away. Thankfully, the white coats didn't notice, but they probably did see how quickly the others were healing and put them through testing sooner than usual. That was probably the major factor from keeping the kids at bay from me. Having to bear the remaining pain was better than going right back for another test.

I let out a huge sigh and slumped against the back of my cage, making the bars rattle. It woke up a nearby mutant and she sat up with a whine. I didn't dare to look over, knowing that she'll try to get me to "heal" her again (I assumed she was a she). Hearing the soft coos from her cage, I closed my eyes and tried not to hear her. But they escalated into loud whines and whimpering, so I couldn't help it and opened my eyes.

She was staring towards a handful of scientists walking towards us, all in their usual lab coats. They were chatting immensely as a cart rolled behind them, a werewolf guy pushing it. The girl scurried to the back of her cage, and I could tell she was shaking in fear, hoping she wouldn't get chosen. I tensed up, also hoping I wasn't next. But it had been a while since I've been through testing, so I had a hunch.

They stopped in front of both of our cages. I focused on their conversation.

"It's been at least a month and its growth has been phenomenal," one said with glee in their voice. Geez, giddy much?

"It has, and its speed is good too, but it needs to be tested more," another added.

"Has its wings come in yet?" I froze. They were talking about me. One of them bent down to look at me and squinted.

"I can't tell. Put it on the cart," they said and the big guy threw me on it, making my head smack against the bars. I groaned and hunched over, feeling nauseous. I faintly heard murmurs of discontent and then I was rolling away. Turns out I wasn't fully developed, at least not with my wings coming in. My shoulders always ached because of them, which indicated their growth, but it wasn't enough. I would've thought they would leave me behind because I wasn't ready, but they must've had other plans for me.

I glanced back to see the girl sigh in relief. I couldn't blame her.

I didn't bother to remember the route to the lab, because it was no use getting out of here. Once inside, they locked the door behind us as I stared into my knees. I wondered what they had in store for me today. Hopefully something not too intense.

"Okay put her in," I heard as large hands pulled me out of the cage. I writhed a bit from the harsh grip the werewolf dude had on me. The look he gave shut me up. He half-dragged me to a large glass tank towards the back of the room. It was a large cylinder at least six feet tall and the width of a coffee table and capped off at the top. It had a heavy duty door on it that a nearby white coat cracked open with a code. Before I could react the guy shoved me in harshly.

I slammed into the glass and rubbed my shoulder area. Of course, that's all I needed, more pain. I cursed under my breath as the door shut. _The hell?_ I looked around, seeing a beveled lab room and a handful of scientists looking at me intensely. The big guy stood by the door with his arms crossed looking bored.

 _What were they going to do? Keep me isolated for hours or days on end?_ I eyed the stoic people before noticing large pipes around the room. There must have been hundreds of them overlapping each other and connecting and leading to… me. The tank. My heart started racing. The pipes held something, well at least transported something towards me. _Was it a noxious gas? Were they going to kill me?_

Before I could think of any other options, water splashed in around my feet. I jumped, noticing the water level rising rapidly. I screamed _. No, no, no, no this_ cannot _be happening!_ _They were going to drown me!_ I screamed again and banged on the glass as hard as I could. I slapped it, punched it, even tried to ram my body into it. It was no use, it was unbreakable. I could feel my heart pounding in my head, in my toes.

The water was up to my thighs now and I screamed again. _How could they do this to me? Why me? How could this be another test? Did they want to drown me? They're sick! They're psychotic! They just love to watch innocent kids die like this!_

I felt water lap around my armpits and I struggled to tread in it. I could swim fine, and tread water for hours, but it felt like I was trying to swim in molasses or something. I stretched my arms out and pushed myself up with the rising water, trying to keep my head above it. But once I got to the top, the water was already to my neck. The beating was everywhere in my body, especially my head. They just wanted to drown me; that was their intention all along. They knew that I wasn't going to "develop" in time, and this was my punishment.

I pressed my face to the capped surface, feeling the water crawl up towards the top. I quickly took the deepest breath in and let the water consume me. Closing my eyes, I felt myself bob in the water. I tried to focus on keeping my heart steady, try to slow it to a minimum, but it was hard. I peeked out at the room, a blue beveled area with men holding clipboards. I wanted to cry, knowing that their intentions, but I had to hold it out. Maybe they were testing my lung capacity or something. Maybe after a minute they would let me go.

But a minute passed, and it felt like my lungs were going to explode. My heart started to pick up again, and I knew I had to let it go. Maybe they didn't intend to kill me. _This is a test after all._ Maybe they would drain the tank, let me go, run some numbers, and keep testing my lung capacity. Hopefully I was right. _Well, here goes._

I breathed out bubbles and coughed water back into my lungs. I choked, feeling the water surge into me. I tried to cover my mouth, but the water splashed inside me, and it hurt. It hurt like I was being thrown against a rock over and over again. It filled through my nose, my mouth, everywhere. I flailed, kicking the tank with as much force possible. I gulped in water and squeezed my eyes tight, waiting for the rush of water to leave.

It never happened.


	10. Chapter 10

I never had the experience of drowning before. Not even from old, past events I tried to remember. So this was new for me.

I thrashed around in the tank, screaming to only let more water into my lungs. I felt a tingling sensation at my feet. They were going numb. The sensation started traveling up my body and I closed my eyes, begging to stay alive. When I opened them, the corners of my vision were turning black, ready to envelop me. I was going to die. There was no use of me. They didn't care. They never cared. The tingling sensation reached my finger tips and my chest, almost to my neck. The beating slowed to nothing; it was over. I was done.

I let out a deep sigh and closed my eyes.

…

…

Badump.

…

…

 _Hold on._

…

…

Badump.

…

 _Is that… my heart beating?_

I peeled one eye open and slowly put a hand to my chest. My heart was beating. I was alive. _Wait, am I?_ I opened both eyes and stared around me.

I was still in the tank.

I was still in water.

And I was alive.

I saw the people outside nod and write down on their clipboards. A pair of them exchanged high fives. I could see some of their mouths moving excitedly. _What is going on? How am I alive? In water? With no air- oh god. Oh god oh god._

I could breathe underwater.

That was their intention all along. It made sense, considering the odd bruise like things on my body. They weren't bruises, they were scales. It was like I was part fish. _They_ made me part fish. This was _their_ doing, and as much as I hated them for turning me into a freak, it was quite awesome. I closed my eyes and focused on how exactly I was breathing. How was the water getting out of my body? I needed to know before they do this to me again!

Before I could think of ideas, I felt a gush of wind by my feet and looked down then up. They were draining the tank. Well crap. Maybe breathing in through my nose- I gagged. I coughed. Once the tank completely drained, I curled up on the floor coughing my guts out. The door opened but I didn't bother to look up.

"Swallow this."

I glanced up, my body shaking as one of the scientists handed me a glass of water. I narrowed my eyes at him, pressing my body against the tank. He sighed and called over the wolf guy. He pulled me out and pinned my arms behind my back. Shakily standing outside, drenched to the bone, the white coat opened my mouth and got me to swallow while pinching my nose. I thought I was going to gag again, but I heard small splashes of water land on the floor by my feet. _Wha-huh?_

"I see, they come out of her neck," a person said and I blinked in wonder. _Say what now?_ The guy in front of me stepped back as a female scientist reached over towards my neck. I snapped at her, she retreated, but the wolf guy yanked my head back quickly. I lightly whimpered as the lady ran her fingers around my neck.

"There's no holes that I feel, they must be microscopic. Imagine that! A hybrid like this being able to do that," she said with a smile.

"And imagine, once her wings develop," another grinned. They all gathered around me as I shook from the endeavor and the cold. They looked at me like I was a trophy or a prized possession to have. Hah! I was a freak, and they were grinning at me like the psychos they really were. If only they could've told me what I had to do, maybe I wouldn't have almost drowned! But now I knew how, but I had a feeling of what was to come next.

I shakily crawled back into my cage, tugging the soaked gown around me to try and keep warm. Before they closed the cage, though, a thick towel landed at my feet. I dove into it, rolling myself in it in happiness. Well, they weren't _that_ bad. At least they didn't want me to freeze to death. I closed my eyes as they rolled me back to the prison room. I rubbed my face against the fabric, bringing back a memory of when I was a kid and would snuggle up next to my parents in their bed during a lightning storm. I could manage the thunder, but the bright flashes of light scared the hell out of me. Their blanket felt similar to the fabric of the towel, and I couldn't help but smile.

"Amber?" I heard Leon say next to me. His tone sounded like he was confused as hell to why I was smiling, soaking, and had a towel on me. "Amber… what… what happened to you?"

I couldn't stifle my chuckle and looked at him with a newfound hope in my eyes, "I can breathe underwater!"


	11. Chapter 11

Weeks passed, and every day I was either running on a treadmill with electrodes taped to me or thrown into a tank for hours. It was gut wrenching, especially because they didn't hydrate me enough. I only got water after each test, and it was only a liter of water a day. Food was an issue too. It felt like I could eat three buffalo after each test. I was hungry enough to eat one of those wolf guys, and that's saying something.

Now, I was chomping down on some brown apples they threw into my cage. Sweat dripped from my body from the running, and my heart was racing like mad. They rolled me back to my spot next to Leon and Speck. I nicknamed the girl next to us Speck because she had spots all over her. She couldn't speak, from what I determined, but could make audible noises every now and again. She was probably only three, or four.

Once they jarred my cage by setting me down, she popped up and cooed at me. I waited until the big guy left before handing her a piece of apple. Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as she savored each bite. I looked over to Leon but he wasn't there.

And when I mean he wasn't there, his cage was empty.

 _Huh?_

I stopped mid-chew and stared around me. Most of cages contained kids, except a few were empty as well. _What the hell?_

I heard Speck cooing again and I glanced at her. She reached out her skinny arm towards me, but she couldn't reach the bars of my cage. "What?" I whispered.

She grunted and waved her hand like she needed something else. I showed her my empty hands and she waved at them. _What did she want?_ I leaned closer towards her and noticed that her eyes were glistening. Usually she cried out loud, but this was different.

Before I could say anything the door slammed open to reveal a couple wolf men with carts. They started at the far edge of the room, and once they got closer I noticed what they were doing. They were collecting empty cages. Once they got to our aisle I stared up at them, "Hey!"

They ignored me until I lowly growled and tried to grab one of their ankles. The guy seethed and kicked my cage, "Shut up, mutant."

"Hey! What's happening?" I shouted, trying to keep the guy nearby. Speck curled up in a corner far from them.

The guy walked off and I heard a couple of them chuckling. _What is their deal? I want to know!_ Did we always have to be left in the dark? Glancing over at Speck, she was crying again and I had a feeling she already knew, but I couldn't ask her.

"You should know by now," a guy said nearby. He grabbed Leon's cage and stacked it on top of the other cage on his cart. He grabbed a smaller cage and stuck it in the one on top. "Housekeeping means retirement." He grinned and rolled away. That would mean…

 _Oh god._

 _Oh no._

I stared around and noticed a couple other kids sighing in relief or whimpering slightly. Speck kept crying and I felt tears well up in my eyes as well.

 _This can't be._

 _No. Oh god. Not him. Anybody but him._

And those other kids.

 _Just "merchandise."_

 _Just "things."_

But they were human… more or less. And they were gone. Gone forever. I rubbed my tears off my cheeks, feeling a stabbing pain in my chest. Leon was gone. And he looked healthy enough… unless he was just nothing.

Just another experiment.

It made me sick just thinking about it. Their intentions, their ideas, everything. They wanted to create creatures like us, experiment on us, use us to test things, test us, what was our use in the end? Just to fulfill their psycho wishes to see how a mutated kid ticked? What was the bigger picture? _Is there a bigger picture?_

Speck's sobs echoed through the room as the wolf men left, letting the doors slam behind them. The sound reverberated in me, making my stomach churn. I wanted to say it was impossible, but it was. We all had our dates, our ends, and we were spending our time cooped up here waiting for that.

I reached over and put my hand on Speck's, feeling her small fingers wrap around my thumb. We had no choice. We were stuck here.

 _No._

I wasn't going to let that happen. Not to me at least.

I eyed the young girl as she crawled over and rested her head on my hand. I gently brushed her stringy hair out of her eyes. She closed her eyes and I thought, well, if I did get out of here, I was taking this girl with me. But what about the others? They were all there, and I couldn't just let them all go, and take care of all of them.

I rested my head on the bars and sniffed. Was their life more important than mine? Or should I just try to save myself? I sniffed again, letting the tears roll down my cheeks, wishing that this never happened to me.


	12. Chapter 12

y[Author's Note: Oh wow I'm getting a lot of views for this story! I'm so glad you all like it so far! Sorry about the late update, college is starting to catch up to me. I'm going to make sure to post a chapter once a week if I can, 1.5 weeks at most.  
Fun Fact: This was the first fanfiction I ever wrote before! I started it years ago, practically finished it, but now I've updated it so it makes more sense and is really my style. This story is almost 5 years old! More chapters to come!]

I woke up to the door opening and casting a glow down our aisle. I didn't move because Speck was still sleeping on my hand. I watched as a group of scientists, their silhouettes, standing in the doorway. Just the usual. I closed my eyes and tried to get  
back to some kind of sleep.

"Jelly bean?"

My eyes flared open. I knew that voice. That nickname.

I turned my body slowly, letting Speck's head move to the floor of her cage. She shifted away and I pulled my arm back to look at the people in front of me. I stared in shock. I couldn't believe it. _Am I dreaming?_ No, I was still in my cage.  
But, ioh god/i, I blinked to make sure that I was seeing clearly.

"Mom? Dad?"

The dark haired woman squatted down on her knees, smiling gently at me like she always did. She folded her hands in her lap as Dad sat down next to her. There they were, the same old parents, just like I remembered them. Mom's hair was combed straight,  
and her eyes matched mine, pale blue but filled with love. Dad's hair was sparse, but I could see the red around the edges.

He smiled at me, "Hey there sweetheart."

I blinked. _Is this real?_ I narrowed my eyes, remembering what Jacob told me weeks ago. "They may be your parents, but not biological," he said. The chill of that statement ran through me, and I didn't look at them. Was he right? No, he couldn't  
be. But why else would they be here?

"W-Why are you here?" I choked on my words.

Mom's face dropped and turned to the side, like something was up. Dad ran a hand down his face, the usual thing he did when thinking hard.

I gulped, "Please… please don't tell me it's true."

They said nothing.

My heart raced and I felt even more tears coming. Like I hadn't been crying for the past five hours, god. I gripped the bars of the cage and stared at them, "Jacob told me. He told me who you were. That you weren't my parents."

I heard Mom hiccup but I kept going, "He told me I was adopted. He told me I was just part of your job. He told me you guys didn't care. You kept me because you knew what was going to happen to me. Why? Why did you do that to me?" My voice rose greatly  
at the end, causing my supposed "mom" to cry.

"Dad" spoke up, "We didn't want that for you, sweet heart."

"I'm not your sweet-anything," I barked back, mad as hell. "You 'didn't want that for me'? Then why did you keep me? Why was I even an option in your crappy lives?"

"You-" Mom started before I butted in again.

"Were part of your job, I know, Jacob told me. Are you guys that sick to raise a kid to just give them away to psychotic, inhuman freaks who want to torture them, break them, and throw them away once their used up?"

"We never wanted that for you! We loved you, sweetie, and we'll always love you!" Mom cried out. I froze. That struck a chord in me, but I quickly brushed that away.

"If you never wanted that for me, then why did you adopt me?" my voice was fierce, but cracked around the edges. I wanted to know; I wanted to know the truth.

I stared at them as "Dad" rubbed "Mom's" back gently. They said nothing for a few moments as I sat there on the balls of my feet. Maybe, just maybe, if they let me out of the cage I could get out of here and kick their sorry butts.

"Sweetie…" he started.

I opened my mouth to retort but he held up a hand, "Please, just hear us out for a moment."

His pleading eyes got me. I kept my mouth closed.

He sighed deeply and looked around the place before his talk, "You were part of our job. We both work for Itex, a company that manufactures everything from planes to diapers. I met your mom at a collective meeting, and eventually we decided to get married."

I didn't know I let out a growl, because he looked taken back. Whoops.

"Sorry, I'm… I'm getting off track," he shook his head and squeezed his wife's hand. "Well, at first I thought that Itex as just a large company, until your mother told me her field of expertise."

I stared at the woman. So she was one of the psychos. _Great, my own mother!_

"She's a bright woman, very bright, and her intentions were just to conduct research. It was a few years after we married that we were given a project." I stiffened. Oh, so I was a projectnow?

"A man from Itex granted us our own wish, to raise a child of our own. But the catch was that we had to give them up once they turned ten. They said, because of our status together, we'd be the first people to set up this foster-like-system for kids.  
Your mother was ecstatic, as was I.

Once you were brought into our lives, everything changed. We were told to just raise you as a normal kid in a normal world. We did, and it was easy. We were so happy to have you. We took you everywhere: Disney World, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon… everywhere."

He looked at me in hopes that I might remember. _Nope, nada._

"Well, you were pretty young," he muttered.

"You were an adorable, sweet-loving child," my "mom" finally spoke up. They both exchanged side glances as she continued, "We loved you ever since they brought you to us. I- I mean we, forgot everything of what they told us. You were our little girl,  
and still you are."

I glanced away from her, not caring if that offended her.

She sniffed and continued, "We- when we got the call a couple days before your tenth birthday, I was confused. I completely forgot the job. I felt stupid, I felt like they would fire me…" She paused as my stomach twisted. "But I couldn't give you up.  
I couldn't. You were my baby, and still my baby. I couldn't do it. I slammed down the receiver and ran to your father, crying, and he tried to calm me-"

She choked on her words as he pulled her into a hug. He continued for her, "We moved. We couldn't let them get to you. We couldn't let them have you."

"But you did," I choked as well, surprised that I was also crying.

"We didn't know they would track us," she hiccupped out.

"We thought that moving would solve that solution, but they had other means…" his voice trailed off and I knew what he meant. When I met Jacob. I could vaguely remember the move, but it was around the time I was starting high school. I did remember joining  
the freshman class at a school meeting, and I locked eyes with the hottest senior sitting two rows from the back. I still couldn't believe that he, Jacob, was a wolf guy who was only there to kidnap me and throw me into this wretched place.

"Jacob was a sweet boy, but your mother was wary of him, and I couldn't put my finger on why," he said, sighing. "I wasn't a proper dad, protecting my daughter from harm…"

"I'm not your daughter," I growled at him, causing tears in his eyes. "I'm not your daughter. I'm not your sweetheart. I'm not your jelly bean. I'm not _yours_ , for crying out loud!" I gripped the bars of the cage in rage.

"Swe-" he stopped and tried the best way to address me. "We love you, and will always love you, no matter what."

I didn't want to listen. I closed my eyes and clenched my jaw. How could they? "Did you know… did you know that they were going to do this to me?" I felt my throat tighten.

"We did, but what we didn't know…" crying mom started before dad jumped in.

"We didn't know that you weren't a test tube baby."

 _Whaaaaaat?_


	13. Chapter 13

I stared at them in awe, but then narrowed my eyes, "You're lying." _Is this another test or something? Do they want me to believe this?_ I was going through enough trust issues lately.

"It's true," dad's voice was more stern now, which kind of surprised me. "I'm, well we, are supportive of Itex's intentions of collecting donations and eggs but-" He paused and shook his head like mad. "This was over the top. We never thought that they would stoop this low."

"What… how…" I tried to comprehend what they were saying. If I wasn't a test tube baby… then…

"We pored over whatever records your mother could grab," his voice was low as if all of this was a secret. Must've been because the entire place was quiet except for his voice and my unsteady breathing. "News clippings, milk cartons, all of them had pictures of kids gone missing. Some at a young age, and some just out of the hospital."

"And I-"

"Yes… they took you out of the hospital, just after birth. They said to your parents you died, but you didn't," he choked up as well. That was even more sickening. Even more sickening than the possibility of me being created in a test tube. They stole me, stole me from my own birth mother.

 _Oh god._ I hugged my knees tight to my chest, wanting to throw up. This was too much. But there was one question left to ask, one question they hopefully can answer.

"What would've happened if you gave me up when I turned ten?"

They said nothing and I stared at them, pleading to know. I wanted to ask them about the "project" I was part of, but that word just made me want to curl up and die.

"The… the project would have been complete, at least at that stage. It was interesting," mom rambled a bit before glancing at me with curiosity. "That they could graft DNA into a person at a later stage. But…"

"But?"

Nothing.  
I rattled my cage, "But? But what? Tell me!"

"Experiments usually don't last long after injection," dad piped up. I swallowed and blinked, wide eyed. "Amniocentesis is the usual protocol, but… the project was to have the other half unaffected during the fetal stage. It's an easier process when growing up with the genes, whereas it's severely more painful in the later stages of life." No wonder my shoulders and everything else hurt all the time. I was still growing, and the DNA was growing with me.

But hold on.

"'Other half'? What do you mean by 'other half'?" I inquired.

"It was a comparison test, to see how each child was affected. One was put through testing once they were born, with the DNA already grafted into them. The other…" he just looked at me. His eyes implied he was saying sorry.

"Oh god…" I wanted to feel tears in my eyes, just so I didn't have to look at them, but I must've used them all up.

"We're so, so sorry they did this to you," mom sniffed as she rubbed her eyes.

"Why?" I bit back. "You said you knew what was going to happen to me."

"Not this, anything but this," her eyes gestured to my tail.

"What? What do you mean?" This wasn't planned? Then what the hell are they doing with me?

"The original project was to only have the two kids to be grafted with avian DNA, that's all. But because we didn't meet the deadline…" her voice trailed off into a small fit of sobs again.

"Are you serious?" I heard my voice crack and coughed to get it back to normal. "Then what are they doing with me? What about the other kid in that project?" My heart was racing at the thought that I may be just a pawn in their little experimenting game.

"We don't know," dad said.

"A new project," mom shakily spoke right after him. He blinked at her, surprised that she knew something he didn't know. She hung her head low, "They say… in your file that you're only a test subject for further generations. It is fasc-" She stopped when she saw the look on my face. Lightly coughing, she continued, "They're having trouble with their guards. They're planning to create new ones, train them, and place them in new areas of the country."

That meant this wasn't the only place. There were others. Other labs that held other kids, other experiments, other projects. And I was bred to guard one of them. Well I wasn't going to let that happen.

Suddenly, the door slammed open to shouts and angry remarks. Both of them stiffened and jumped up. "They're not supposed to be in here!" I heard somebody yell. "Who let them in?" They both bent down and gently smiled at me, "We're so sorry, but we have to go now… and we probably won't be able to come back." They straightened themselves up, ready to brace the harshness of their coworkers.

"Wait!" I cried out as they started walking away. I wanted to say something, but all that I could muster was a question, "Who was the other half? Of the project?" Shoes slapped against tiles and I heard a couple more of the other kids stir and whine. Oh damn, they're pissed.

I could only see a portion of their legs, until one pair ran off, and from far away I could see it was "dad". He started yelling back at the other scientists and wolf guys, getting clocked in the face at the same time.

My eyes widened in his direction as mom bent down and gently smiled, "I love you sweetie, but we have to go now."

"No!" I cried. I had to know. "Please tell me!"

I heard even more shouts, sounding angrier than ever, and getting closer. She let out a deep sigh. "Your brother. They used your twin, and I think he's still alive." She suddenly shrieked and her leg kicked my cage, making it ring. I covered my ears as she was dragged out, her husband bloody as he joined her. I wanted to scream after them, tell them that I still loved them or something…

But I couldn't.

They weren't my parents.

They weren't my family.

I turned my head to the side, hearing their shouts all the way outside and down the hallways until they finally faded away. I clenched the bars and bit my lip to the point I tasted blood. A single tear rolled down my cheek and stung the cut, just like everything I had lived for: a lie.


	14. Chapter 14

Days blurred together. I never knew when it was day or night. I slept when I could. I comforted Speck when she returned from testing. She cooed at me when I came back covered in sweat. We held hands as much as possible. I always woke up with a wet hand; she cried every time she slept. Bruises formed up and down my arms from needles. My back ached every day.

Weeks rushed by. They began testing my wings. They hurt. They put me in a wind tunnel. I wasn't a good flyer. My shoulders always ached after each round of tests. Speck learned my name. I taught her to say hers. My wings are red, like a cardinal's. Sometimes they bled, but I could never tell.

Months passed. Speck was gone, along with multiple others. I was one of the few left. I couldn't cry anymore. I was used to the pain; the physical, mental, and emotional kind. Sometimes I woke up in tears from dreams of my "parents." Sometimes I had trouble breathing. They tested my lung capacity at different altitudes. I had asthma attacks. I've never had them before. They kept saying it was a flaw. They kept saying they'll have to start all over. They kept saying I was a letdown, a mistake, useless.

But I was still alive.

A door opened, and I heard people and wolf men talking up a storm about a new batch of kids being sent in. Some were babies. Some came from test tubes. Some were clones. The thought of it made my stomach churn, but I pushed it aside. _It's not like I can do anything about it…_ I sighed and rested my head on my knees, bringing my wings around me like a blanket and closing my eyes. I didn't look at them. I could hear them clear as day though.

"Grab the two in the corner," said a woman in a thick Spanish accent.

"Mmm, and the one with the wings?" growled a wolf man. I heard him lick his lips.

"Not yet, it wouldn't be fair," spoke another wolf man.

 _Fair?_

My eyesight was stupendous, but I could only barely see through the darkness. I blinked to see two cages with kids in them being lifted onto a cart. They whined and cried, not wanting to go. Both wolf men cackled, pushing the cart out of the room and slamming the door behind them. The sound was deafening, and I quickly covered my ears. They were more sensitive than my usual ones. The ones without fur.

Once it died down, I reached for the bars, my muscles sore and making me hiss a little. I stared in the direction of the door, trying to figure out what was going on. I must've been the only one in there, because when I knocked my knuckle against the steel, it echoed and in turn made me jump. My breathing was heavier and I could feel my pulse in my ears. _What did they mean by fair? Fair as in like a game? Wait…_

Before I could catch my breath, the door opened again with the same two wolf men from before. I could recognize their footsteps. What can I say? I got bored there, so I had nothing better to do than memorize footsteps. These two rarely entered the room. They only left for…

 _Oh no._

"Ready for a game of cat and mouse?" one of them sneered right in front of my face. He shone a fat flashlight in my eyes, startling me to where I fell back in the cage. I rubbed my eyes as he cackled with the other one.

"Well, it would be more of dog and cat… mutant… thing," the other one added as I was hauled onto the cart. They laughed again as I hugged myself in the cage. I knew what they were going to do. And this time, it wasn't a test. Not like my first one. Nothing like my first one. They had a job, and I was part of it.

I was rolled back out into the courtyard with the barbed fences and sky. The sky was fading to a yellow, as if the sun was setting. My pulse throbbed everywhere; my adrenaline kicking in. I saw a line of werewolves leaning against the building's wall, sharpening knives or licking their lips. I looked for Jacob, but he wasn't there.

A slam on the top of my cage made me jump. A guy placed my cage on the ground and long, tan plants brushed against my skin. Brown needles poked through the bars, and I noticed the ground wasn't green anymore. _How long have I been here?_ My mouth parted and I could barely see my breath.

My door opened with a slow squeak, and I froze in place. The white coat threw the keys in his pocket along with his hands. Something square was in the other one, and he glared at me. "Don't try anything, or else."

I gulped.

I didn't want to get out of the cage, because I had no chance in fighting off these wolves. But on the same hand, I was even more screwed inside of the cage. _Come on Amber, think!_ My eyes glazed over the row of hungry men. One of them licked his knife. _And quick!_

Then it hit me.

"Must I drag you out like the other two before you?"

I glared at him with a feeling of tears in my eyes, but I blinked them away. He looked back at me and raised an eyebrow.

"Well?"

Letting out a shuddering breath, I gripped the top of the cage and pulled myself out. My feet scraped against the harsh ground; dirt, rocks and dead shrub looking things were scattered everywhere. I could feel my heartbeat in my ears. My fists clenched as I stared at the wall of killers in front of me. I had a plan, hopefully a good plan,

I let out another, deep, breath and heard them growling at me deeply, waiting for me to move.

So I ran.

Fast.

I bolted for the fence and heard shouts behind me, the wolves trying to gain on me. Once I got close to the fence though, I heard a humming sound and I jerked to the side just in time for a guy to slam into it. He screamed as the electricity pulsed through him. He managed to clip my heel, cutting into it, and managing to shock me as well. I shouted, not feeling the pain just from my ankle, but also from something around my neck.

The collar.

I forgot all about it.

 _Well, there goes my plan._

I stumbled, trying to stay up as I heard the other guys rushing toward me. They growled and shouted at me, ready to tear me apart. My vision was blurry and my body shook from the fire, but I knew I couldn't give up. Gasping, I barely dodged a man barreling into me, and starting running again for the other fence. _Maybe, maybe I could_ -

One of them grabbed me by my arm and threw me into the middle of the yard. I landed hard on it, pain shooting through me, but I dismissed it. Glancing up, two of them raced for me while another one picked me up by my neck. His breath was hot in my face, and I gagged as he pulled me close to him, baring his teeth and growling, "What a tasty little cat."

Before he opened his mouth to take a chunk out of me, I swung my legs hard and nailed him in the balls. He collapsed with a whine and I scampered backwards quickly. I spun and started to run again, only to see another few guys ready for me. I got as close as I could then ducked at the right time and took a hairpin turn to the left, kicking up dust behind me. My chest heaved, the speed taking a toll on my lungs. I could feel the asthma-like attack coming again, but I couldn't stop. I was not going to let these guys kill me. Not like this. But I couldn't keep running forever.

 _Oh yeah._

I smirked and darted towards a group of white coats chattering like they were at a football game or something. One of them was the guy who gestured me out of the cage. They didn't see me coming. They screamed when I came at them with roundhouse kicks and punches. I knifed one in the neck and kneed one in the head, both of them crumpling to the ground. The last one started running for the building, shouting into a receiver but I got to him quickly. I planted both my feet into his back and he coughed, landing face first with the receiver out of his reach. I smiled until I heard the wolf guys shouting towards me. I could hear them, and I readied myself as they ran for me, ready to tear me up into millions of pieces. They were getting closer, and closer, but before I took off again, I heard barking. Actual barking. Actual dogs! And they were pouring out of Itex's doors. _Well crap, there goes that plan… again._ There was no other option.

Taking a quick glance of the area in front of me, I sprinted again, hunching over and scraping past the men lunging at me. I felt claws, knives, everything slice against me but I kept going. I angled myself lower to the ground, feeling hot, dog breath at my heels. I closed my eyes for a second, aiming my strides to be longer as the dogs got closer.

 _One, two, three._

My heart raced.

 _Four, five._ My strides got longer.

They were about to dig into my calves.

 _Six, seven._

I jumped.

Or at least as high as I could, and I unfurled my wings. They brushed against the dogs below who jumped after me, the end feathers ripping slightly. I winced but focused on my muscles. _It's just like the wind tunnel. Just going up. Come on! Up. Down. Faster. Come on!_ I beat my wings faster, my altitude rising as the wolf men and others spilling out of the building shouting and pointing at me from below. They were the size of gerbils now, and many were shading themselves from the sun. I hovered the best I could, despite my weight and lack of wing muscle I had been using lately, and looked at the sky. It was a deep red now, with pink shading on the clouds and purple mottled the rest of it. It was gorgeous, and the sun looked orange, almost amber. Amber. An amber sky. That had a nice ring to it. I smiled just slightly and felt a breeze roll through, my long, pale red hair waving past me. I had to balance myself against it, but I did it. I was actually doing it.

I was flying.


	15. Chapter 15

Everything was blissful, but only for the moment.

A bullet whistled past me, just barely missing me by inches. I let out a squeal as more bullets shot towards me, and I couldn't move quick enough. One went through the white clothes I wore, missing my skin. Another grazed my side, making me wince and falter in my flight. I fell a little bit but flared my wings and caught myself last minute. A bullet seared through a part of my wings and I screamed. I tumbled through the air, and noticed my body aiming towards the barbed wire on the fence. I grabbed my head and hugged my wings close to me as I scraped through it. The barbs tore at my skin, making my cries louder than ever as I crashed against the fence and felt the fire surge through me again. I couldn't scream. I tried to but the pain was too much.

My body slammed against the earth and I moaned in pain. I rolled over and tried to push myself up, but stopped when I heard their shouts close by. I was dead. I was over. There's no escaping now.

But something was different. Overlapping wires that hummed were blocking their path. That only meant one thing.

I was free.

But, I also ripped through an electric, barb-wired fence with just a thin piece of cloth they call clothes. So pain was the main thing I was registering for the moment.

I grunted and turned my face towards their voices. My vision was blurry but I could make out the group of Erasers running off… away from me. _What the hell?_ I pushed myself up on my arms and took in shuddering gasps of air. I had cuts everywhere; but not a lot of them were deep. Some were just scratches. The ones on my legs and sides were the worst, making my white skin red.

 _I have to get out of here_. I hugged my sides as I shakily stood, trying not to keel over from the pain. I felt a surge of fire from the collar again, but it was minimal, almost as if the electric fence overpowered it. I gasped as it shocked me again, falling to my knees and coughing up something metallic: blood. _Oh great,_ now _how am I going to get it off? I need to think these things through more_.

Suddenly, a klaxon started blaring and I covered my ears in pain. I could barely hear their shouts over the wailing, and I knew I had to get going. _But where? I can't fly, nor can I really run!_

"Send out your best men! Go! Go!" I heard somebody shout and I felt a bullet graze my hair. I let out a soft shriek and clapped my mouth.

 _No, I_ have _to get going!_

I let out a shuddering breath, feeling another surge erupt from the collar, but I attempted to dismiss it. I had to get out of there. After glancing around at the nearly empty, brown landscape, I started running.

There were no trees for me to hide in, only a few cacti here and there. There were rolling hills just like I've seen in movies, but they were brown and mottled in desert green. I was in the desert. The _desert_. I had no chance of hiding from them. I could feel my heartbeat in my ears, but I kept going. No way was I going to stop.

After a couple miles, my legs started to burn and I couldn't feel the blood drip down my legs. My feet scratched against the earth, which wasn't smooth I tell you. I'm pretty sure I ran over millions of those mini cacti already, but I kept urging myself to keep running. The sky was fading to night, the horizon purple as the stars started to twinkle into vision. _Maybe they won't catch me in the dark?_

Suddenly a beam of light shone a few miles ahead of me, making me freeze in place, and I could hear the distinct sound of a helicopter. The light grazed over the ground, looking for movement, before the helicopter started moving again. I glanced around, hearing for any other helicopters, but thankfully it was just the one. _Oh thank god_. If they had more than one, I was pretty sure I'd be wolf meat.

I began to run again, in the opposite direction of the helicopter towards the east. I squinted and tried to dodge the cacti and other prickly plants on the ground, but it was tough. Once the wings started developing, my eyes became better. I could see further and clearer, just like a bird's. I stepped sideways at the last minute to barely scrape by a cactus, stepping on something hard and limping a bit. Seething, I continued to run, hurt foot or not. I had to get out of here… but… where am I? I thought of the states and where a desert would be, and all I could think of was the Southwest. _Arizona, Utah, Idaho, New Mexico…_ I started to name off the states in my head when I felt a shooting pain in my chest.

 _No!_

The pain turned to gasps and I felt my chest tighten instantly. I couldn't breathe. I collapsed onto the dirt, gripping the cloth and tried to calm my breathing. But it wasn't helping. My gasps turned into wheezing, like the wind was knocked out of me. The pain was unbearable, like an elephant was on top of me and was using me as a bed. Nothing, I couldn't get any air in. I wheezed, noticing the sky getting even darker around the edges of my vision. _No! I must… fight…_ I grabbed the nearest thing, which of course was dirt, and closed my eyes to focus on my breathing. Those freaks never supplied me with an inhaler of some sort, they just let me suffer with no oxygen until I calmed down. I could feel the electrodes tear against my skin as they monitored me in this state. I thrashed around, wheezing at them to help me. Their cold, dead eyes watched me writhe on the ground, with no care in the world. They knew it was a flaw, and they had no intent of fixing it. They would just throw me out and use another mutant, since I was just an experiment. A lab rat. I was nothing.

I opened my eyes only to see a small section of stars, the blackness swallowing up my vision. My heart was pounding in my ears so loud, I couldn't hear anything. My wheezing turned into a faint whistle, and I knew that I was done for now. The tightness was getting worse, making my body shiver from lack of oxygen. My heart kept trying to work, but there was no way I was getting out of this one. I was dead for sure, no matter what. Even when I tried to control my breathing, nothing was going to work. They were going to find my body there, in the middle of the desert, or wolves were going to eat me. I was done for; I was over. I felt my head lull back, but I was already gone before I hit the ground.


	16. Chapter 16

The first thing that confirmed that I wasn't dead was hearing a happy shriek far off, because I'm pretty sure death didn't include shrieks of joy. I peeled my eyes open to be welcomed by small particles of dust. I coughed and moved my hands up to rub my eyes. It was bright out, and by the sun it seemed to be about noon. _What happened… am I…?_

Groaning, I pushed myself up into a sitting position and checked myself over. The scrapes from yesterday seemed to be practically healed, but the gashes on my legs and sides were still open a bit. I winced as I gently traced a finger around them. There was no way for me to bandage them up or anything, since the only sort of clothes I had barely covered me.

I heard another, really faint shriek and stared around, my heart instantly racing as I hoped I wasn't just dreaming this. _Am I dreaming?_ I poked hard on one of the wounds and I let out a small squeal. I picked up handfuls of sand and blinked hard.

I wasn't dreaming.

I was free.

And I was alive.

I breathed out deeply, a smile rising on my face as I bent my head back to take in the sun's rays. The heat, the air, the sights and sounds, everything was real. I was out in the world, away from those insane freaks, and free to do as ever as I please.

But then my heart dropped when I realized that wasn't completely true.

Because of the wings.

The ears, the tail, the scales…

I was still a freak.

Hot tears formed in the corners of my eyes as I realized the situation I was in. I had just escaped from a place that experiments on kids and turns them into these animal hybrids for research or for weapons. It was because of them that I was stuck in this situation now. No home, no place to go except keep to the shadows because I was a mutated freak.

 _Maybe they're right, I should've just let them kill me…_

Multiple shrieks erupted this time, but it sounded more like the air was carrying them. I couldn't help but look in the direction they were coming from. My vision was blurry despite my good eyesight, but I was for sure that I was hearing shrieks of joy. A breeze rolled through, making me rub my arms from the cold. Honestly, I wanted to just sit there and grumble all about my life, but I knew that was pointless. If I was going to stay strong and survive, I had to do something other than that. And these shrieks of joy in the middle of the desert was making zero sense to me.

I shakily stood up and unfurled my wings a little bit to check the wounded part from yesterday. My eyes widened to see only a patch of mottled feathers around the bullet wound. It seemed to be completely fine, which was remarkable despite those scrapes from yesterday were gone. _Maybe it has to do something with the mutations?_

Whatever it was, I decided to file it in the back of my mind for now. I took a step, wincing from the soreness in my legs, but kept going towards the sounds I was hearing. I rubbed my neck and contemplated whether I should try flying yet or not. _Probably not_ , I glanced at the injured wing. I had a feeling that these sounds were far off, since I couldn't see squat even with these eyes. But that also meant no flying. _That's okay though, I should keep low anyways._ I closed my eyes and focused on the sounds around me. At first all I could hear were small animals scurrying around nearby me: ants, a couple prairie dogs, a rattle snake. Then I heard it, but it wasn't another scream of joy, it sounded like a car revving up. _Am I nearby a town?_

If that was the case, then I could get some food, and hopefully some clothes. _But what about money?_ I racked my brain for ideas, but all of them seemed like bad ones. Those bad ones that include stealing and stuff. I didn't want to do that… _but it seems like I have no other option._

I took a deep breath and continued in the general direction of the sounds. I decided not to run, since my legs still felt like jelly. _Hopefully I can get at least some food…_

It felt like I walked at least an hour, and the sun was beating down on me like it was the middle of summer. Sweat rolled down the sides of my face, and I started to drag my feet again. _Will I ever reach this place?_ I prayed to myself before looking up and seeing a stretch of faded blue. Blue. _The ocean_. It had to be, because without thinking I ran towards it at full speed. It wasn't until I saw a huge van with a boat trailing it that I skidded to a stop and hid behind the nearest hill I found. Breathing heavily, I army crawled my way to the top and peeked over.

This wasn't the ocean.

It was a lake.

People were littered about it; some were chilling on boats, some driving jet skis or water skiing behind them, others were diving into the water and coming up with squeals of joy. I watched the van I saw earlier back up the boat on its rear into the water. Men shouted at the driver, "That's good!" before unhitching the boat and pushing it into the water by hand. I was surprised there weren't a lot of people there. It felt like it was the dead of summer but everything looked dry and brown. The area around the lake was green with a few trees here and there, but still, it looked like an oasis was placed right in the middle of the desert. I rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn't seeing things.

Nope. The squeals and water was all real. I couldn't believe it.

I squinted to see further down the lake's shoreline to see what looked like houses. Vacation houses. _Empty_ vacation houses. My mouth was already watering at the thought of nabbing some food from them, but my gut instinct told me no and that stealing is wrong.

 _Would it still be stealing if I really really needed that stuff?_

I told myself that it wouldn't.

I took a deep sigh and realized that I couldn't just waltz into a house though. First off, it was in the middle of the day and I am pretty sure that somebody would notice a girl in a hospital gown and wounds strolling out and about. Secondly, the houses probably have security alarms or something to keep the house safe. _And these are vacation houses. How do I even know if they still have food in them? Wouldn't the food go bad if they did?_

My stomach growled at me and I squeezed it with my fingers. _No_. I can't just escape from a top secret facility and just give up. I need to have a plan.

I glanced at the lake again and the scattered houses around it, feeling something click in my mind.

There. Now I've got a plan.


	17. Chapter 17

Okay, I had to admit, breaking into a house was kind of fun.

I waited until sundown to pick the best house to sneak into. It took me the entire day to watch how the people were acting here, and I noticed that many of them went out for long boat rides off into the distance and far away from their houses. There was one house that seemed quiet throughout most of the day, and didn't have any outside cameras or obvious alarm system. It was a decent looking house, and now I was climbing through one of the back windows.

I tumbled onto the carpet and quickly shut the window behind me, which kicked up a little bit of dust. In fact, the entire house was caked with dust. My heart was racing with excitement and cautiousness, and I tried to keep myself to a crouch just in case anybody was looking in from the outside. When I tumbled in, I ran into a nightstand and froze in fear of somebody hearing me. I stared around the room and out through the door into the main area.

Nothing.

The house was empty.

I let out a shuddering breath and tried to relax. But I had to be on edge just in case.

I also knew I had to move quick.

So first off, food.

I made a beeline for the kitchen and started opening every cabinet and drawer I could find. At first I couldn't find anything, then I saw a jar of peanut butter and chips in a high cabinet. _Yes!_ I tore into the bag without thinking, causing it to explode with chips scattered everywhere on the floor. I didn't care. I shoved handfuls into my mouth, and tasting the saltiness on my lips made me crave even more. I dipped some in peanut butter and managed to finish the bag and jar in minutes.

And I was still hungry.

I checked the fridge, found two cans of diet coke and some frozen food in the freezer. I popped open the cans and started downing them while throwing some frozen food into the microwave. After chugging both cans, and letting out the biggest burps in the world, I grabbed the food and tore into those too. I wasn't for sure what it was, but it tasted amazing.

I ended up laying on a couch after ransacking the rest of the house for food. I burped happily and closed my eyes. When was the last time I had food like this? A yawn escaped from my mouth and I felt my eyes droop. _Maybe I should take a nap. Nobody is going to come into this house._

I nodded and turned over on my stomach, relaxing my back and letting my wings unfurl to cover me like a blanket. _What if I just lived here? What if I just lived here for the rest of my life?_ I probably could. But before I could make any decision, I was going to rest up. I closed my eyes and let myself drift off into deep sleep.

The sound of a car door slamming woke me instantly. I scrambled to my feet and stared around the house, realizing I had slept through the entire night. Just outside I could hear voices, so I crouched down and peered at the windows as my heart raced in my chest. Just as I heard the talking, it stopped and I knew something was wrong. I glanced around the house, realizing I literally tore into the place like a rabid raccoon or something. _Please tell me raccoons live out here…_

A bang on the front door made me jump two feet in the air. Something whistled past my ear at the same time a window shattered and I ducked into the nearest room. I shut the door behind me as quickly and quietly as I could, but it was no use. I heard another crash and what sounded like growling.

The wolves.

They found me.

 _Stupid stupid stupid!_ I told myself as I searched the room for some clothes. I shouldn't have taken that nap; I should've got out of here as quickly as I got in. Now I have to pick the best clothes I could without getting myself killed! Or worse.

Suddenly a boot appeared halfway through the door and I let out a small scream. I instantly covered my mouth and shoved what looked like to be leggings on. I squeezed myself into the tiny closet I was searching and slid the door closed just as the man entered the room. I still didn't have a shirt, and it was pitch black except for the faint line of light between the two sliders. Keeping my mouth covered, I peeked through and saw one of the wolf men point a large rifle around the room, taking large steps and breathing heavily.

"I can smell you, you little cat," he snickered as he paced the room. He reached the other side of the room and shot twice underneath the bed, making me jump again and causing a shirt to fall on my shoulder. I couldn't see it, but I knew he heard me because his yellow eyes were staring at the closet now. A big grin appeared on his face and I stepped back further into the closet, letting the clothes envelop me.

Now all I could see was his big hairy chest and I could feel his breath on my hair. I could feel my heart pounding in my ears as the door started to slide open slowly.

"I found you-" I jumped out just as he opened it enough and tackled him to the ground. And I have to tell you, tackling a big guy like him is really difficult. The back of his head collided with the bed frame causing him to crumple to the floor. I tumbled sideways, a shirt in my hand as I scrambled away from him. I heard multiple shouts from the kitchen and the guy groaning in pain. He pointed his gun at me and yelled, "Get her!"

I dodged at the last second, feeling the bullet graze my side before throwing myself out the small window just next to me. I landed on grass, thankfully, but I could feel the glass shards scrape against my skin. I heard a scream down the lake a bit, and it hit me that these guys didn't care what others saw.

All that mattered was me.

Another gunshot seared through the air and into the next home over, causing a family to scream in terror at their kitchen table. _Jesus! They really don't care about anybody!_ I had to get out of there, fast, before somebody got hurt… before I got hurt.

So I took off like the wind, literally, and the world around me became a blur. There was no way for them to catch me at this speed. I curved my way up and away from the lake, and readied my wings to take flight. But as soon as I did, pain tore through me and I stumbled a bit in my step. That could only mean one thing.

My wing wasn't completely healed.

 _Damn!_ I thought as I caught myself before face planting in the dirt. Squinting, I saw a chopper far off in the distance, and what looked like to be several black SUVs. It was enough to scare me, so I turned back towards the lake to see even more wolf guys ready to intercept me. _Oh hell no_. I turned my body at the last second and started running along the lake, feeling hot breath on my heels again. The dogs! And my chest started to heave from lack of oxygen. I wasn't going to win this match, because a lake is a body of water. A _round_ body of water. I glanced back, seeing the danger I was running from and some appearing far up ahead. Screams carried in the air and all I could think about, in that moment, of what would happen to the people there. What did they see? What will iTex do with them? I had to get out of here, and fast. I couldn't fly, and I couldn't outrun them forever. The sun glinted off the lake just at the right moment to catch my eye. _Oh yeah_.

I ran at full speed towards the body of water and the shouts from the wolf men got lost behind me. They knew that they couldn't get me underwater, unless they were part fish. But I had the upper advantage now. Bullets hurled at me, but I was too quick, and I dove into the water at the last second, feeling it bubble around me as I shifted my breathing as quickly as possible. My heart roared and chest hurt, but I had to control it this time. If I didn't, I could actually die. I swallowed and breathed out as quickly and carefully as possible.

Bullets seared through the water, one nicking my shoulder, telling me to get the heck out of there. But where would I go? This was a lake. They could circle it all they wanted to. _This was the most ridiculous idea ever-_

I froze when I saw a small fish swim towards me from far in front of me. Fish are rarely seen in lakes, unless it was a big lake. My eyes widened as I waded a little further forward, keeping my breathing steady and seeing an opening in the distance. This lake was bigger than I expected. It was huge. I could get out of here. I kicked and felt another bullet splash into the water, but completely missing me this time. They were stopping. They had to give up. Unless they had some technology to see me underwater, I was clear. I was free, again.

I let out a huge sigh and let my body sink lower into the water, closing my eyes and smiling a bit. I was in the clear, for now, at least. I had a feeling I was going to run into them again, but now that I was in the water, I was okay. The touch of the water through my fingers felt amazing- I glanced at my right hand and saw the shirt that I grabbed from the closet.

 _Oh god_.

It was an orange striped shirt that tied at the left side. The water made it hard to see any other details but I had to admit, it looked horrible. I hated stripes, it was my least favorite pattern. If it was polka dots, I could handle it. But this was all I had.

I pulled it over my head and gagged a little bit. Even though it was tight around the neck, it was a shirt. And that's all that matters. I kicked towards the opening I saw and turned onto my back, wishing to look up out of the water to see if they were still there. _No, I don't want to risk it_. So I kept below the surface, swimming, breathing, away from those insane freaks.


	18. Chapter 18

I gasped as I gripped the sand the best I could, pulling my body forward. My breathing was changing back to normal, but my heart would not stop racing. I don't know how long I swam for, but it felt like I spent three days in the water. My legs ached, no, all my muscles ached. Despite being part fish, my endurance wasn't one-hundred percent.

Once I felt my feet scrape against dry land, I flopped against the ground, breathing heavily. It was nearly dusk, indicating that I practically swam the entire day away. _No wonder I'm so tired_. I breathed, resting my head against my arm so sand wouldn't stick to my wet hair. I needed to take a break, then I would be able to fly again, hopefully enough to find the next closest town to get more food. It was like every waking second I was hungry. My body, well, my _new_ body must require more calorie intake per day than any normal person.

While I let the remaining rays of the sun dry my skin, I moved my arms to push myself up despite the soreness. But as soon as I did that, I felt something hard poke my head, making me freeze.

"Don't move," a gruff voice demanded.

 _You have got to be kidding me_ , I thought as my heart picked up again. My body shivered as the gun kept close to my head, ready to blow my brains out.

"I said, don't move," I heard a click and couldn't help but close my eyes. This was it. I was over. They caught me. I heard multiple whispers and realized that the gunman wasn't alone. I heard a girl's voice uttering about how they were going to transfer me back. Wait. I know that voice.

I looked up and my mouth dropped open in surprise. It was a gang, literally, who had guns slung over their shoulders or in their hands. There were five of them, varying in size, but all wearing the same uniform consisting of jeans and a black, thick jacket. There was no doubt they wore a bullet proof vest under them; I could see the outline. They were clearly after me, since they all glared at me like I was a piece of meat.

Except for one.

She was small, almost baby like, but she was wearing the same gear as everybody else there. Her hair was dark and disheveled, like it was cut by herself with scissors. It barely touched her shoulders, but contrasted against her skin, which seemed to be covered in oddly shaped circles. When I looked her in the eyes, she pointed the knife in her hands at me, her face contorting to a frown but her eyes didn't change. She recognized me. I recognized her.

"Speck?" I choked out, only to have the barrel butt against my head, hard. I cursed and fell to the ground, my world spinning.

"I _said_ , don't move!" the guy shouted. But he didn't pull the trigger. _What is he waiting for?_

"Raiden! Do you have any idea how to handle a hostage?" a deeper voice spoke. I lifted my head ever so slightly just to have a boot step on my cheek to hold me down. I squirmed, but he managed to keep me down. All I could see was his other boot.

"Now listen, when handling a hostage, you surround it first," said the guy with the boots.

Confused, I heard the bustle of the others surrounding me, pointing their weapons at me as I stayed there, pinned. I could barely see Speck's legs, which were so skinny they almost looked like twigs. But she wore knee-high combat shoes, making her 4-year-old stature scary.

"And since none of you have actually _handled_ a hostage before, I'll show you," I felt a hand grip the striped shirt I was wearing and lift me up to be face to face with the guy. He had dark skin and deep set eyes, but had short, curly blonde hair. "You have to intimidate them enough to be weak to your power," his breath stank of rotten meat, making me gag and try to release his grip on me. _He must be one of those wolves._ He was big enough and strong enough for it.

The group around him nodded like they were in an army. _The army… that's it_. This was a training exercise. Now that I was off the ground, I could look at the group better now. Next to Speck was a younger boy who had striking cheekbones and menacing eyes. He growled at me and readied the AK-47 in his hands. Another girl, about my age, who had her hair tied up into a messy bun was blowing some blue bubble gum. She had a handgun in one hand, and a duffle bag in the other. She had spots all over her, similar but smaller than Speck's. The last kid looked like the big guy's younger brother, but he held a type of gun that I couldn't recognize. He also had something behind his back, which made me gasp a little bit but the leader gripped me tighter, bringing me back to look at him.

"This subject just escaped," he started. "Anybody know her numb-"

"Subject 4MB3R-001," the winged boy spoke.

The big guy nodded, "Good, and the reason for capture?"

The older girl halfway raised her hand, "She ran away."

"Escaped would be the better answer there, Keira."

She shrugged and continued to pop another bubble.

 _Oh great, now I'm a lesson._

"Wouldn't it be best to just subdue her now?" the menacing looking kid growled, eyeing me up and down. I was still shivering, and the sun was just barely touching the horizon. "She swam the entire day, we tracked her. She must be weak by now."

"Good observation Raiden," I glanced at the boy again, who grinned devilishly. He had the eyes of one of the wolves. _Dear god they train them young_. My eyes darted to Speck, who quickly looked somewhere else. _Really young, what is she doing here?_

The leader kept his grip tight on my shirt, and I felt the neck area rip a bit, since I was dangling above the ground. He turned to her and gave her a once over, "Kid, you haven't said anything. Someday you're going to be doing this you know."

Speck didn't answer, she just looked down at her feet and twirled the knife in her small hands. The knife's blade never cut her skin, like she knew how to wield one for a while. My eyes widened just slightly. She wasn't dead. I believed she was, but no, she has been alive, training… training to be one of them. My heart skipped a beat. She wasn't even six years old. She still didn't even know how to speak!

"Speck!" the man growled, pulling me around and ripping the hole even more. My body swayed above the ground and an idea popped into my head. But I had to do it at the right time. Speck jumped at his voice and bowed her head a little bit.

"Sorry sir," she spat out, surprising me greatly. She could talk. When was the last time I heard her say something? Other than our names? I looked her over again. _Maybe she isn't as young as she looks?_

"Sorry doesn't cut it, now go get the truck," he pinched the bridge of his nose with his other hand.

Her eyes widened, "But… but I don't know how to drive!" Her voice was high pitched, a voice I never heard before. When she talked to me back in the cages, her voice was raspy and quiet, just like any other kid in that situation.

"Then you'll learn! Sam!" the winged boy stiffened and looked at his leader.

"Yes sir!" he squeaked, a blush appearing on his skin. Keira giggled as the leader barked at him again:

"Go with Speck and set her up with the van." Sam nodded and jogged out of sight with Speck, who gave me a glance before taking off. While the rest of them started to talk about my capture, I decided to swing my legs just ever so slightly, ready to kick myself against the guy and fight my way out. But there were five of them. _No, I can do this_.

Once I got the momentum I felt a tug on my tail, causing a squeak to also escape my mouth. I could feel my face flush and Keira laughed out loud, and a deep chuckle came up from behind me.

"The creature has a weak point," Raiden taunted, his hand gripping my tail and giving it another pull. "And it squeaks just like Sam, maybe even better." Keira continued to laugh as I tried to wriggle myself out of the situation. But no, with the leader's grip on my pretty durable shirt and Raiden holding my tail, I was trapped.

The leader grinned at me and nodded to Keira, "Get the ropes, they should be coming with the truck any minute now."


	19. Chapter 19

I cursed under my breath as my head hit the side of the truck again. You heard me: a truck. It was a large, camouflage truck that wasn't that hard to distinguish against the landscape. It looked like it was painted by a four year old, which probably was since they had one driving it.

"Watch it!" Raiden shouted at Speck.

"S-Sorry!" she yelped as she tried to control the huge vehicle. The wheel was bigger than her face, and she had to reach for the pedals. We bumped over something else and hit my jaw against the bed of the truck. Pain shot through my skull as I tried to keep myself steady. But it was impossible. They managed to tie my feet and hands up despite my squirming and threw me in the back. There was no divider between me and the seats, but it wasn't like I could do anything. Shouting was also out of the question, since my mouth was duct taped as well.

The ride finally smoothed out and I couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. Poor Speck was learning how to drive this massive thing in the middle of the desert. We must've reached a road now, since Raiden was shouting at her again to "put the pedal to the metal."

I heard her whine, "But I can't reach it."

Raiden groaned and I heard Keira sigh, "It's not like we're in a hurry."

"Shouldn't we tie her down more?" I heard Sam say. I glanced up to see his eyes match mine. They were a deep red color, causing a shiver to go through me. _What was he?_

"Nah, it's not like she's going anywhere," the leader chuckled.

 _True that_ , I thought as I felt something hard hit my side, nearly knocking the wind out of me. I squinted, trying to see with the minimum light that was given in the car. It was a box of some sort, and was now my new bouncing friend. _Great_.

"Turn off here," the leader said, and we turned onto another dirt road. My heart raced as I started bouncing around again. They were taking me back. I felt hot tears in my eyes, wondering what they would do to me. Was I going to be experimented more on? Or were they going to execute me properly this time? The box hit me in the head, making my vision blurry but enough for me to hear the clinking inside of it. That wasn't an ordinary box, it was a tool box. _And every vehicle has one! I can get out of here!_ Despite my fear of going back to that dreaded place, I knew I could at least go back fighting. It bounced around more and finally landed close enough for me to scoot back towards it, reaching with my hands to unlatch it. We hit a large bump and I nearly went two feet in the air, and the tool box broke open on impact. Tools littered the back, hitting me every which way and others cutting my skin. _There_. I tried to reach for the box cutter, but it kept leaping out of my reach.

A laugh came from the front and I heard Kiera follow up with it, "Oh, if only I had a camera… I would so post this to YouTube."

"With what title?" Sam pointed out. "We're supposed to be hidden, not known from society. We're a secret organization."

I heard her smack her gum, "Wow, way to ruin the fun… _Sammy_." She laughed along with Raiden. I didn't hear Speck at all, but that's probably because I was still struggling to grab the cutter. The car calmed down just enough for me to see it wedged in the back corner of the van. I scooted my way back there as carefully as possible, eyeing them so they didn't notice what I was doing. Thankfully, they were bickering so much they didn't notice I was cutting into the rope around my wrists.

"Shut up! You know I hate being called that!" Sam yelled at her. His voice cracked and she laughed even louder.

"It should be your name!" she chortled. "Sounds like you still need to pass puberty!"

"Shut up! Shut up!"

"She's right, you're still a little kid. You still squeak like a baby!" Raiden sneered.

"Shut up!" Sam cried, and I could see his face going red in embarrassment.

"Sammy, Sammy," Keira sang.

"Shut up!"

"Little, baby Sammy," Raiden and Keira chorused.

"Shut up! Shut up!"

"Why don't you _all_ shut-" but before the leader could end this squabble, I was airborne, well, we all were. I was floating in the air for a second before I heard the most horrible crunching sound in the world. I hit the back of a seat, hard enough to knock the wind out of me. I felt my balance go forward, then I landed against the side of the truck, my head colliding against something, hard, and I saw stars.


	20. Chapter 20

Thankfully it was only a few stars, and I blinked several times to stay awake. I wasn't out, thank god, but the others were. Nearly all of the gang was collapsed against the side of the truck, not moving and their eyes closed. _This is why you wear seat belts, folks._

The leader was crumpled underneath Sam, whose wings were sprawled out in a way I knew wings weren't supposed to be. I harshly pulled my arms forward, feeling the final thread of the rope break, leaving my hands free. They went to my feet in a flash, quickly untying them as the leader stirred and tried to push the others off him. Since the vehicle was on its side, I pushed myself to hide behind a seat in the back where he couldn't see me. Thankfully he was more towards the front, but I could hear him counting to himself.

A low whine from behind me made me stiffen, and a streak of light appeared on the seats in front of me. I squinted towards it. One of the back doors to the van was pried open by a crowbar controlled by small hands. My heart skipped a beat when I saw her wave at me. Her mouth moved:

"Come on!"

I didn't even question it as I scrambled out of the vehicle, hearing a shout from behind me. Squeezing myself through the door, I landed in something wet: water. I blinked, rubbing my eyes and seeing the wreckage before me. The truck had landed in a canyon. The front was completely busted and the vehicle rolled onto its side into the stream. The water pooled around the roof at a great speed, and I wondered if it was enough force to wash the truck away.

But first.

I spun to look at Speck who had cuts all over her. Pieces of glass stuck out of her skin but besides that and her disheveled hair, her eyes were full of endearment. She was alive, standing…

"Amber!" she cried and jumped into my arms. I let out an 'oof' as she nearly barreled into me, but I held her close, feeling her touch in the longest time. I hadn't seen her in forever, and now here she was, in the flesh, standing, _talking_ , and alive.

"Speck," I cooed as I stroked her hair softly. I felt her body heave as she cried into my shirt, but I didn't care. Speck was back, alive, just, _oh my god._

I pulled back and placed my hands on her shoulders, trying to get a better view of her. She had grown, a lot, because she was smaller the last time I saw her. How long has it been? Months? Years? I gulped, hoping that wasn't the case. But none of that mattered now.

"Speck, oh my god, was this-"

"My idea, I know," she smiled at me as tears spilled down her face. "I knew once I saw you that I had to help."

"But…" I couldn't think straight. Everything was happening so fast, "But why? Why me?"

"You silly!" she sniffed, still smiling. "You helped me! You kept me alive, happy even, when we were in those cages. Despite all was happening, you helped me. You gave me strength."

I could feel tears in my own eyes now, but I couldn't think of anything to say so I just pulled her into another hug. I couldn't believe it. Speck, a girl not even ten years old, planned an escape plan, for me. I couldn't let her go, not now, not after all we went through. I rested my head against hers, closing my eyes and I remembered the days back when we held each other's hand as they came in to take another kid off to tests. We were always there for each other. No matter what.

"Okay okay," she said, pushing away from me. "Get going! Before they wake up!"

 _What?_ "No!" I nearly shouted, hearing shouts erupt from the truck. They were already waking up, but I could hear them arguing, mostly about Speck. Crap. "No! You're coming with me! They'll kill you for doing this!"

She shook her head, still smiling at me as another tear dripped down her face, "I don't care! As long as you're alive, still running, you'll be okay! I know you will."

"Sp-Speck…" I blubbered. I heard a crunch and then a crash and we both whipped around to see a boot sticking out of a window.

"Go!" she cried. But I couldn't leave her. Not like this.

I shook my head but she pushed me away from her, "Just go!"

I hiccupped, feeling hot tears in my eyes but I knew this was all I could do. I flared my wings, glancing at them and not seeing any signs of injury. "There she is!" I heard behind me, and I glanced back to see them spilling out of the car, guns cocked as they raced towards me. Speck whipped out her knife and nodded towards me with a smile, "I'll fend them off!" Then she ran at them screaming.

I shook my head and started running.

One, two, three.

Gunshots echoed around me, ricocheting off the walls of the canyon and missing me by inches.

Four, five- I jumped.

I flapped my wings fast and hard, getting aloft quicker than I did before. I inwardly smiled at my accomplishment. Tilting my wings just right, I missed another bullet and circled around and glanced down, seeing Speck whipping her little knife around as Sam and Keira tried going at her. The others were aiming at me but kept squinting, struggling to see my shadow against the night sky. The sound of Speck's shriek was enough for me to look down again and see her holding her side. By the moon's light, I could see Keira's wicked grin on her face and something long glinting in her hands.

No.

I growled and turned away before angling myself back and down into the canyon. With a deep breath, I pulled my wings in and let myself drop, but I had them open enough to come in at an angle. The wind was loud in my ears, and for a second I told myself to get some headphones or something to reduce the pain. But then I was snatching Speck up under her arms and into the air, her weight minimal as I flew up and out of the canyon. She shrieked, nearly falling out of my grip. "Don't squirm! I got you!" I shouted over the rushing air. She stared at me and ended up clinging to me like a backpack. I could feel her heartbeat race against mine as I gained more altitude. Their shouts and cries faded, along with the bullets. They were starting to look like ants, but I could still see their angry faces and the leader speaking into a phone.

 _I did it. I escaped again._

I felt something drip on my shoulder and I glanced at Speck as I angled myself towards North-West this time. "Speck?" I asked, hoping she wasn't too hurt.

"Y-You didn't have to… I-I-"

"Hey, you helped me," she pulled back a little to see my face. Her eyes were a tawny brown and filled with tears. She raised an eyebrow and I chuckled a bit. "I'm not going to let them take you again." She let out a happy cry and hugged me tight, and I returned the favor as we took off towards the night.


	21. Chapter 21

Hey guys! Sorry for the late update, school has gotten the best of me. I had to take a break to try and focus, and now I've gotten back on the writing horse! More chapters to come!

* * *

I couldn't fly far, especially while holding Speck in my arms, but I managed to come to a shaky landing just under some tall pine trees. I stumbled, nearly dropping her, but caught myself by landing on my butt and holding her close. Once I finally skidded to a stop, my wings drooped and my breathing came out even heavier. Speck peeled herself away from me and instantly started looking around, wielding her knife in case something or somebody was there. I closed my eyes and leaned back, ending up flopping against the uneven dirt and feeling rocks dig into my back, but I didn't care. We were free. Gone. Away from those insane freaks.

"Area's clear," she said as she walked back to me. She stuck the knife back in its little sheath and squatted down next to me as I breathed big gulps of air. My body was tingling from the flight, and my wings were incredibly sore. But hey, I flew so many miles while carrying this girl with me. That's an accomplishment.

"Awesome," I breathed while giving an unsteady thumbs up. I shakily sat up and let my wings relax behind me. She looked at me with worry in her eyes, and I shook my head. "I'm fine, just- sore." Plus, I've never really flown that far before.

"Okay…" she kept looking around though, like she was determined to take out the nearest squirrel or something.

Once I pushed myself up to a good position, I stood and used a nearby tree to steady me as I was a little dizzy. My lips were chapped from the cold atmosphere, and my breaths were shorter than normal. "Where are we?" I asked as I looked around the forest of trees. From what I could determine, pine trees plus desert doesn't mix, unless it was high desert. That narrowed down the number of states to Colorado or New Mexico.

"Dunno," Speck shrugged, looking up at the sky but having no chance of checking the time since the sky was scattered with stars. "But wherever we are we should start up a fire." She started walking off and I reached to grab the edge of her jacket last minute.

"Wait-" I breathed, finally settling down. "Wouldn't that give us away?"

"We should be fine, looks like we're in some mountains," she glanced around before going to collect some wood. I stayed where I was, trying to keep my eye on her just in case no mountain lions or anything else of the sort would come after us. But… would they? _We are mutants after all…_

But the biggest thing that I couldn't get out of my mind as we prepared a fire was the fact that Speck was alive. That we were both alive, free, and… well were we? Once Speck found the perfect rocks to make a spark, we had a nice little campfire in front of us. I did my best to fix the horrid shirt I grabbed, finally seeing the stripes alternating in pale pink and bright orange. It was a fire hazard to the eyes. I tied the ripped parts up to the best of my abilities, making the shirt even tighter on me. When I got that done, I looked at the Speck out of the corner of my eye as she poked the fire with a tree branch. _Something doesn't seem right…_

"Okay," I stood up and brushed off the dirt off the skinny jeans I grabbed earlier. Or leggings? Jeggings? Whatever. "You have to tell me."

"Huh?" she asked with those big brown eyes I remembered back in the cages. She was so young, innocent, and here she was, fighting for those… ITex people. But now she saved me from them.

"What's your game?" I gulped while giving her the best death glare I could give.

"What do you mean? I saved you," she replied, a bit of fear in her voice.

"I don't believe it," I bit back.

"What?" she exclaimed, shaking her head. "I _saved_ you! You don't believe that?"

"I don't believe that you saved me for the sake of saving me!" my voice rose to a shout, which in turn made her stand up.

"Of course I did! I didn't ask you to save _me_!"

"Neither did I!" I screamed, feeling the waterfall coming. "I was going to escape! And then you just so happened to show up and kidnap me, then crash the stupid truck when I clearly had a plan to escape! This is your plan! This all is your stupid plan! To act like you really care about me then throw me to the dogs!" Tears dripped down my face and my fists clenched so hard my nails dug into my skin.

"A-Amber," she started but I cut her off.

"I thought you were dead!" I screamed. The fire flicked my way, sending embers on my bare feet but I dismissed the stinging pain. "All this time, I'm alone, in that damn cage waiting for the day that I die, and you've been out there training with those ITex freaks like some kind of school!" With that said, my anger came in as a punch, but she dodged it last second and ducked under my arm, retreating to the other side of the fire.

"I never meant to!" she exclaimed, her face bright from the fire showing a couple of freckles on her nose. "They brought me up like this! I was _born_ there! Unlike you, you had a perfect life!"

I froze, taking in her words and staring at her across the flames. "H-How did you know that?" She was asleep when my parents came, and she was half her size then too. "You were asleep."

"I-" she paused, looking at me and searching for the right words. Then her face changed to confusion. "I was asleep?"

"Yeah, you were! My parents came in and explained they were working for that freakshow!" I exclaimed. The commotion afterwards woke up everybody there, and Speck woke up crying and hiding in the corner of her cage. I remember. How could she not?

"How am I supposed to know? I was only-" she froze suddenly. "Amber…"

"What?" I nearly screamed.

"How old was I? When you saw me last, I mean," she asked with concern in her voice.

 _What's that supposed to mean?_ I struggled to think, "I don't know, like… four? Five?"

"Amber, I'm seven."

My jaw dropped. If she's seven, then…

"You were in there for two years."

Oh my god.

Two years. Two years since I was kidnapped on my birthday. Two years since I started high school. Two years since I was thrown into a cage. Two years since I last lived a normal life. Two years I was stuck in a cage, mutated, and experimented on like a lab rat. Two years I became abnormal, a mutant, a freak. Never in my entire life did I imagine this could happen. But it did. And every day I told myself I would be alive tomorrow, and this was all a dream. But no. It was real, it _is_ real. I'm living it. And it took two years for the reality to hit me.

I was never going to be normal ever again.

So I cried.


	22. Chapter 22

I don't know how long I cried, but I assumed it was pretty long because now there was a layer of ashes under the fire. My body was on its side and curled against the ground as I stared at the crackling fire. I sniffed, and noticed movement just across from me. Speck was crouched on her feet, knees up and hugging them, also staring into the flames. Her cheeks glistened from the light.

At first I didn't want to move, but as soon as I adjusted my position she perked up, "I never meant to hurt you."

We exchanged a good look between ourselves before she turned her attention back to the fire. "I never wanted to be like them, or be picked to be part of them," she buried her face into her knees. "I'm sorry, they raised me to be like them. I couldn't say no."

She squeezed her legs as I adjusted myself to a sitting position. I looked at her small frame, her gear, everything; she was right. A normal army wouldn't recruit a girl at her age, or any small kid for that matter. Yet here she was.

I sighed, wiping my tear stained cheeks, "I know."

She glanced up at me and we exchanged glances again.

"I'm sorry for yelling, I-" I paused, trying to think of the best way to say this. "I just want answers."

I tilted my head back to stare at the stars between the branches. "Up until now, I thought my life was perfect. But apparently it was all set up." I grabbed the dirt and closed my eyes, trying not to think too much into it. Just thinking about how much my parents forced me into this life made my stomach churn.

"Nobody's life is perfect, Amber," she pointed out behind her legs.

"I know that," I bit back a little too harshly, making her jump. I took a deep sigh to calm down. "But not everybody has a destiny to be turned into this." I glanced down at myself. I had a tail, scales, furry ears, and freakishly large wings.

"I did," she mumbled, which I could hear just barely over the crackling of the fire. "I'm a test tube baby. They created me there. I can't change that." She hugged her knees tighter and my heart sank. She was in pain, and it was radiating off her.

Her head popped up when I brought her into a hug, sitting inches away from her and holding her as close as possible. She sniffed and returned it, her skinny arms wrapping around me. We held each other for a while before I said, "You _can_ change that, Speck."

She looked up at me with big eyes. I gently smiled and brushed some hair out of her face, "Yeah you were created by them, but that doesn't mean you have to be like them. You shape your own destiny." Once I said that, a memory flashed in my mind back when I was first starting high school. I was so nervous, moving to a new place and all. I was asking my "parents" what I should do later in life. Their response was what I just said.

Speck sniffed and squeezed me one last time before pulling away, staring at the fire again. Crap, did I say something wrong? _If only I had the ability to read minds…_

"ITex was planning on making a new guards," she spoke. I raised an eyebrow at her and she replied while rolling her eyes, "You said you wanted answers. I can tell you what I know."


	23. Chapter 23

"The _Phibians_?" I snorted, chewing on some roasted rodent we managed to catch. It wasn't much for dinner, but it was something. Strangely it tasted pretty good, but when you're living in the wild, anything will taste good.

"Hey I was only five! I couldn't even pronounce Amphibians then!" she pointed out, ripping off a piece with her teeth.

"Right," I teased, putting my head back and looking up at the tree leaves, seeing patches of stars. "And of course it caught on."

Speck blushed and just took another bite of her dinner. She and some other kids were all amphibian mutants, which was part of those psycho freaks' plan. They wanted to see if they could make another group of obedient dogs, Erasers as Speck calls the werewolves, but with different mutations. Speck said she was part frog and a bit of fish, meaning she could breathe underwater just like me. I asked her if she ever played leap-frog with the other "grunts" ITex raised, and she just gave me a weird look.

"So…" I laid on my back and stretched my arms behind my head, staring at the few patches of sky I could see. "I was going to be a grunt too?"

"From what I remember," she started, laying down next to me and copying my position. I couldn't help but smile a little bit. "We all had to read all the experiments' files, and yours said something like 'All-Round Grunt.'"

I nodded gently, now realizing why I had these freakish additions. They wanted a flying, super-fast, water breathing mutant that would bend to their needs. _Thank god I got out of there in time._

"But of course I'm a defect," I sighed, closing my eyes.

"Yeah…" she almost whispered. That was the only thing wrong with me: asthma attacks. Speck said it was because of the different mutations they put together affected my lungs, making it hard for me to adapt in certain situations.

"Great," I sighed.

We didn't say anything for a while until Speck asked, "What was it like?"

"Hm?" I said with my eyes still closed.

"Living a normal life?"

I opened one eye to look at her. She was staring at the branches too, curiosity easily seen in her expression.

I shrugged, "Good… I guess. I mean, I still only remember a few bits of that life." I racked my brain to remember things, but all my mind was saying in response was to not believe it all. "My parents loved me, I loved them, and all I had to worry about was homework. Well... that and martial arts."

"You took martial arts?" she awed.

"Or something. It makes sense why I can fight so well," I shrugged. I could only remember receiving a medal for a tournament, and I was wearing something that screamed martial arts to me. But remembering learning how to fight? Nothing. I internally groaned at myself. _Why can't I remember?_

Apparently she heard my groan and bumped be with her shoulder, "You'll remember. Don't worry." I looked at her and she smiled wide at me, and I gently smiled back.

"We should get some sleep," I yawned,

"I'll take first watch," she moved to stand up.

"No, I'll do it. You need your rest-"

"No, _you_ need rest. You flew us here," she said with the sternest voice towards me. I instantly sat back down and saluted her.

"Yes sir," I chuckled, making her giggle in return. She then walked off a ways, but close enough to where I could still see her back. I curled up on my side once more and let out a deep sigh, closing my eyes and falling asleep instantly.


	24. Chapter 24

"I swear I need a baby carrier to fly you around."

The following day we were flying again. Not far, just enough to see where we were. I was holding Speck as tight as I could in my arms as she stared around the area below us. It was tough, since she wasn't holding onto me either. I squeezed her again as we flew into another thermal.

"You're not going to drop me," she called to me over the wind, squinting at the ground below us.

"Right, and you're definitely not butter."

She laughed and continued looking. I squinted as well, looking around and only seeing rolling hills of trees. There were some patches of clearings, but not enough to tell us where we were. I felt her sigh in my arms.

"This isn't working, we need to find a town," she crossed her arms and locked her fingers around my wrists.

"Isn't that what we're doing?" I looked to the right of me and only saw clouds rolling in the distance.

"Sure, but a map would be better. I wish they would've given me a GPS or something."

I sighed as well, feeling hopeless until I sniffed something that didn't smell like water crystallizing. I looked ahead, sniffing again what appeared to be:

"Smoke?"

"Huh?" Speck glanced up, which made me have to grip her tighter.

"I smell smoke," I stared ahead, but only saw more clouds. Dipping my wings a little bit lower, I got under the cloud banking and cruised through a small lake of white. Once we broke through the cloud, the ground was closer to us, much closer, and I could see a road. Heck, I could even see what looked like a town up ahead. I snickered as Speck squinted to try and see.

"What? What is it?" she stared around, not seeing anything. "What do you see?"

"A town," I nodded. "Up ahead. It looks like a little village." I grinned and looked down at her, lowering my altitude ever so slightly. "Looks like I win," I taunted.

"I hate bird mutants," she mumbled, making me scoff and playfully loosen my grip. She let out a short scream which just made me laugh. I angled myself towards the town, hoping to get a glimpse of where I was on this planet.

It was a very pretty town, or ski resort, I should say. Speck and I were cautiously walking along the main road, me keeping my wings as tight to my back as possible and shoving my tail down my pants. I couldn't do much for my ears or my scales, so I was staring around at the local businesses like an Eraser was going to jump out at any minute. But it seemed like the town was deserted.

"Angel..." Speck paused while reading the welcome sign. "Fire? That's an interesting name." She shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket, and I could see her breath a little. It was colder here, and about eight-thousand feet above sea level. I could feel it in my lungs; it was a little tough to breathe.

I crossed my arms and bounced around on my feet to stay warm. I didn't even think to grab a jacket back at the lake. Well, I wasn't even thinking, I was just fleeing. I stared at the sign some more and something clicked inside my head.

"We're in New _Mexico_?" I asked aloud.

Speck furrowed her eyebrows, "Then wouldn't the sign be in Spanish?"

I shook my head and chuckled a little bit, "No. _New_ Mexico. It's the state between Texas and Phoenix. It's always overlooked. I didn't know it was mountainous." I looked up at mountain ahead of us. There was a large slice of the trees gone, making a large green hill and swaying ski lift look barren. But I could also see a snow machine nearby the run. _Maybe they have trouble making snow?_

"Well, wherever we are we should get some food," Speck grumbled, holding her stomach. I nodded in response as we walked along the road. There were a few cute shops just by looking through the windows, but it looked like none of them were open. The only thing that seemed open was a slightly out-of-place grocery store. The only thing that made it somewhat fit in with the rest of its surroundings was the green roof. We walked towards it but then I stopped.

"What is it?" Speck asked, turning to look at me.

I stared blankly at the front doors, where the OPEN sign hung. "I can't go in there."

"Why not?" Speck seemed confused, until she realized what I meant. I was more of a freak than her. She could probably go in there and blow it off like she just had a very rare skin condition that doesn't spread. But me? How do I explain very realistic cat ears, scales, a lump in my pants, and feathers plastered to my back? It was impossible. Plus, it was a building that could easily corner us in if Erasers were nearby.

I shook my head, "I can't go in there." My stomach rumbled in protest.

Speck's face dropped, obviously feeling pity for me but I could see the hunger in her eyes. We stood there in the barely naked parking lot for a while, until her demeanor changed.

"Go hide behind a building somewhere, I'll find you," she then turned on her heel and walked right into the store. I stared after her, wanting to call out to her but she was already inside. She had the most determined look in her eyes. I wondered what she was planning to do. At first I wanted to go in to make sure she was safe, but hey, this girl planned an escape plan for _me_.

So I jogged behind the nearest building, squatted down by the trash bins, holding my nose, and waited.

* * *

It wasn't long until I heard the bells go off. I jumped up, ready to go run in and grab her, but then I heard, "You come back with those! We need those for the season!" I stared around the corner, seeing the parking lot and an angry older woman standing over a fallen grocery bag. She huffed in annoyance at the shoplifter, grabbed the bag, and walked back in. I peered around, hoping to see Speck not too far off, but I couldn't see her. My heart skipped a beat. Did she get hit by a car? Or captured? Or worse? Where did she-

"GAH!" I let out a startled shout as a certain somebody poked me in the side. Speck keeled over in laughter, her arms coated with grocery bags. I had to clutch my heart to keep it from racing into a heart attack. _That little..._

"Don't _ever_ do that again!" I seethed, trying to keep my voice down but also to make a point. She just grinned and held up a bag that smelled of beautifulness.

"Hungry?"

My mouth watered at the smell and I just nodded, still trying to calm my heartbeat down. We sat down behind the large, log building. It wafted of other wonderful smells, which made me even hungrier. We tore into some chips and other wonderful things she grabbed. Once I reached for the sliced bread though, she slapped my hand.

"What?" I growled, wanting to make a sandwich.

"Save those for our trips, we'll need them," she grabbed the loaf and the peanut butter as well.

I just rolled my eyes, "And how do you think we'll be able to carry them?"

She pulled out what looked like a small camping backpack. We matched eyes and I shut up.

"Right, I forgot you were so smart," I licked my fingers.

"Well," she teased. "I did crash a van full of sick criminals to rescue you."

I playfully shoved her shoulder and she did it back to me, missing and almost high-fiving the jelly jar. I laughed and leaned back against the wall.

"So how did you do it? I doubt you just ran in there and ran back out just like that," I looked at her little proud face as she wiped her hands against her legs.

"You're right," she spoke through a mouthful. Once she swallowed, she continued, "I went in, grabbed a basket, and started putting food in it. There was only one lady in there, and she was stocking towards the back." She let out a small smile. "Once she saw me with all the stuff, she asked me if I was going camping or something. So she basically planted the idea in my head."

I smirked at the idea. We technically were camping, just add the running in from animal-mutants being chased by insane-lab-scientists and their dogs and you got the entire picture.

"So I told her, 'You read my mind.' And then asked her where the backpacks were. She helped me through the entire thing! It was great. Once I got to the checkout line, she was blabbing on and on about the town and everything. Did you know that they get the majority of their business sales during the winter? Apparently this town gets busy when it's snowy!

Anyways, I then asked her where all the people go afterword, and she said Texas. Apparently they get a lot of people from Texas here, and sometimes people from Germany! Isn't that crazy?"

"Germany?" my eyes widened. "Little Angel Fire is pretty popular!"

"Yeah! So I continued chatting up a storm with her, and then I asked her if she happened to have a map, and she gave it to me for free! She pointed out the best hiking places in town, and once she asked me how old I was and why I was going hiking in this weather, I snatched it and took off!" Speck grinned heavily and I laughed in reply.

"Oh man, you were so great!" I wiped a little tear from my eye and exchanged a high-five with her.

"Eeyup, the great and powerful Speck," she proudly grinned.

"Now that sounds like a good line for a soap commercial."

She scoffed and tried to tackle me to the ground. All she did was tip me over. I couldn't help myself, so I tickled her back, making her squeal. This was it. This was the life I was going to have. It felt scary at first, but now that Speck is here, I felt actually happy.


	25. Chapter 25

We stayed in Angel Fire for another day before taking off. There was a little clothing store down the road that seemed to have a couple cute shirts. They also had shoes, and I was in desperate need for them. Since it was high desert, cacti were littered almost everywhere, and I managed to step on at least two of them in the past hour. Speck and I conjured up a plan to grab some before we took off. She would walk in to the store, look around and act like she's just browsing, then come back and tell me where things were. Once she walked back out, I ran in, using my speed, and grabbed what I needed. The clerk didn't see me coming at all. Now I was walking around in some yellow converse; not exactly the best shoes, but enough to keep me from scratching up my feet.

"I also grabbed you a shirt," I handed her a small green T-shirt that had a small frog print on the left sleeve. She stuck her tongue out at me, but she knew it was better than wearing all black all the time. She quickly changed and slipped it over her small shoulders. I couldn't help but glance at the scars on her back and up and down her arms.

Once she zipped up her jacket she looked up at me, narrowing her eyes, "What?"

"Nothing," I quickly answered, fishing out the map from the backpack. I traced my finger to where we were, and looked for the nearest town. What I really wanted was a city, then I could find more info about my real family. My stomach lurched at the thought and I had to pinch myself to keep myself from crying again.

"You okay?" Speck placed a hand on my arm.

"I'm fine, just..." I let out a soft sigh. "I'm trying to look for the nearest city."

"Hm," she peered over the map, looking as well.

"There," I pointed at the city that seemed pretty far from where we were. "Colorado Springs, we should head there next." With that, I folded it up to the best of my ability, but ended up ripping the edges. I winced a little before stuffing it into the full backpack. I started zipping up the leather jacket I managed to grab. It was a little tight, but it was better than nothing.

"That seems pretty far, you think we'll be able to fly all the way there?" she pulled out the straps from her backpack forward a bit, then clipping them together across her chest.

"We'll see," I softly smiled. We walked a ways, out of sight of the townspeople before I took a running start and leapt into the air. The wind felt good against my wings, and I hit a fairly warm thermal before angling back down to scoop up Speck. She readied herself as I dove down, arms open, and snatching her up into my arms. I faltered a little bit as she adjusted herself, but eventually smoothed out into a good coast. The sun was lowering behind the mountains as I angled myself towards Colorado Springs.

We landed in a small forested area just north of the city. Well, landed wasn't the right way to put it. I was more like hurtling down to the ground, as I was packing some heavy cargo. I soared as close to the ground as I could, dropped her off, and braced myself for impact. I tucked in my wings and went sliding, almost ten yards, before coming to a complete stop. My shoulders were burning, and it felt like I had flown across the entire country. My arms were numb from carrying Speck the entire way; but I did it. This must've been the longest I've ever flown, with extra baggage mind you.

"Coast is clear," Speck walked up to me, pulling me up by my hand. She had her jacket wrapped around her waist. I undid my jacket a little and rested my hands on my thighs, taking in big breaths.

"Okay, let's go," I straightened up before leading out from the forest. We were nearby a main highway, which seemed pretty dangerous so I kept us close to the outer edge of the trees. I watched the cars and stuffed my tail down my pants, pulling my warm wings against my back as well. I could see a big cluster of buildings in the distance: Colorado Springs. _Finally, now if I could just get to a computer..._

"So... why are we here?" Speck piped up as we walked.

I stumbled in my steps, almost twisting my ankle on a rock. I could feel the wind of the nearby cars blow my hair into a mess. It reminded me of when I actually had bangs, back before I was mutated. Now my hair was extra-long, which made me think of grabbing some scissors to cut it short, or at least grab a hair tie.

"Uhm..." I tried to think. How do I explain to her? That I'm desperate to find my twin brother, who is also mutated, and probably locked up somewhere in another lab, and the only way I can do that is by getting a computer?

"Does it have something to do with your past life?" she inquired, which made me second-guess my thoughts on her only being a kid. She was smart, and was able to read people.

"Yeah," I exhaled, trying to keep my composure. She was right. I wanted to know who my real parents were, as they would lead to me finding my other half; my twin to be exact. He was out there, probably stuck in the same situation as me, and struggling to survive. "I want to know who my real parents are."

"Hmm, well you'll need a computer, but I don't know how we'll do that," she pointed out. Again, she was right. All I could think of was going to a local library, but what if that wasn't enough? They would probably block certain sites as well. I needed something mobile.

"We could steal one," I said. We were closer to the city now, and I could start to see more people milling about. It made me tense up. We were still outsiders, freaks to them. As much as I could hide my mutations, neither of us could hide our skin. It also didn't help that it was pretty warm out for it being fall.

Speck laughed, "Steal a computer? What, with the tower and everything?"

"I mean like a laptop," I sneered back. "Then we could take it anywhere we want."

She nodded, "That could work. I could even hack it to- no wait."

I stopped walking and looked at her. She sighed and shook her head, "No, I thought I could hack into ITex's files, but I'm not that good yet. I was still in training back there. And if I did, they'd probably trace us easily if that's the case." Her tawny brown eyes looked up at me with worry. "It'd be too risky."

I ruffled her hair, "Risky is my middle name."


	26. Chapter 26

I watched precariously over Speck's shoulder as she typed at lightning speed. Letters and numbers spilled across the screen in so many complex algorithms and whatnot, it started to make my head hurt. So I got up and started walking around a bit. We were in a local park, which was strangely bustling with a good amount of people. I assumed it was because of the beautiful combination of gold and copper trees. Many of them were taking photos and I swear there were more kissing couples than there were in a magazine.

Speck was sitting on a bench, hunched over and glaring at the laptop we just stole. I could tell she was on edge as she wove through the mismatch of firewalls and stuff. When she started, she tried explaining it all to me the process, but I lost it after she started saying words only a genius mastermind would know. Apparently she had to learn how to do this when she was originally training for ITex, getting past this stuff and all. Now she was turning it back on them, and, I think, she was getting through.

"Aha!" she smiled, then frowned, then grunted and started punching in more codes.

"Gentle on the merchandise," I seethed. It was the nicest looking computer in the Apple Store; it even had a glittery glow to the apple shining on its exterior. I shivered a bit and sat down next to her as she angrily typed. I looked around, hoping that none of those stupid Erasers were nearby.

Earlier, we were just walking around the city, looking for any inkling for a computer store. There were a couple electronics stores, but they were under strict surveillance and it made me uneasy. We finally found a small strip mall just on the outskirts of the city and stumbled upon an Apple store. I remembered that you can literally walk in, play on what they had, and leave. It was almost like an attraction at an amusement park, without buying anything of course. When we walked in, a couple people sent us weird glances and started muttering under their breath. I remember peering up at the small cameras in the corners of the room; but thankfully, no obvious security guys.

"Hi there! How can I help you?" a girl shorter than me walked up. Her voice went down a little bit when she saw what we were wearing: slightly ripped clothes, worn backpacks, and tangled hair. I pulled my wings, if closer, to my back out of nervousness. Her tag said Amanda.

"Hi Amanda," Speck piped up. Amanda gave her a look of 'why is she talking and not the older one'. I couldn't help but smirk despite my nervousness. "We're looking for a computer."

"Oh- what kind of computer?" Amanda tried to put some spunk behind her voice, but it was obvious that she was wary of us.

Speck shrugged a little bit, "We kinda want one that has good Wifi coverage, and sturdy." She glanced up at me with the most innocent eyes she could muster. "My older sister here travels a lot, and she's studying while we're on our camping trip." She huffed like she was upset about it. I couldn't hold back my snigger. Speck was way too good at this.

Amanda was slowly being hooked more into our lie, "Ah, I was going to say you look like you're camping." She looked me up and down, making me shiver. "Older sister, huh? What are you studying?"

Speck and I looked nothing alike, "Uh- computer science."

Amanda kept her gaze on me then let her guard down. "Alright, follow me, I have the perfect laptop for you." I gaped a little bit before shutting my mouth and hearing a small snicker from Speck. _Hook, line, sinker._ Amanda took us towards the back and showed us the laptop, explaining all of its features, and saying more things that probably made more sense to Speck than it does to me. We eventually agreed to have it after Speck pulled me to the side to "discuss" it. Instead, she said that she was going to wait outside for "our mom" so I could do the rest of the mini mission. I walked over to the counter where Amanda stashed the laptop in its case, charger and all. She told me the price and I pretended to dig into my backpack for my wallet. Once she opened her mouth to ask, "So are you really sisters or-"

I was out of there in the next second, laptop box in hand and trying to stuff it into my backpack. I couldn't, so I held it close to my chest as I ran. I didn't see Speck when I ran out, making me sigh in relief. I ended up at our rendezvous point breathless as she was picking the dirt out of her fingernails. She cried in joy and took the laptop box from me, when we heard a growl nearby. We both cautiously turned around to see not two, but _five_ Erasers starting towards us. I backed up into the alley's wall and heard another growl from above. I glanced up right into a gun's barrel. The Eraser holding it grinned and said, "Bang."

I quickly grabbed Speck's hand and ran, gunshots pouring at us as I ran down another alleyway. Speck cried out that they had to split up, but I refused. No way was that a good plan. She was small, not fast, and an easy target for them. I could've easily taken flight, but that didn't sound like a good idea since I just tripped over a homeless man's shopping cart. He cursed at me as I scrambled to stand. Speck dragged me up by my sleeve only to be faced by another Eraser jumping down in front of us. He roared, and I swung Speck behind me just in time for it to swipe the air in front of me. My skin seared in pain, but it was only a scratch. I hissed at him, letting my ears relax and preparing my fists. No way was he going to hurt Speck again. I heard her cry out that there was more behind me, but just as I glanced back, the Eraser lunged at me. I dodged his jaws at the last second and sent a kick to his chest, making him gasp for air as I literally threw Speck down the alleyway.

"Run! I'll find you!" I screamed at her, dodging a second Eraser's claws.

"B-But-"

"RUN!" I shrieked, feeling a claw rake my cheek. Once I heard her feet patter away, I dove at the last second under one of the Eraser's arms, going back the way we came. I turned and stuck my tongue out at them. "Ready to play a game of cat and mouse?" I teased. All of them growled and lunged for me, but I was too quick. I bolted in the opposite direction of Speck, but kept my tail close to them so they wouldn't turn for her. I jumped over a fence, they crashed through it. I tipped over boxes, they plowed through them. _Damn, nothing is going to stop them!_ I glanced back just as I leaped onto a fairly high ledge. A bullet whizzed by my head, and by this point I knew they were far enough from Speck to not cause harm to her. I saluted them a goodbye before jumping down and sprinting out of sight.

It didn't take me long to find Speck though. Her best place of hiding was a crowded, open area. And that was the local park. She was hiding in the bathrooms when I walked in. She nearly scared me to death, but I was also happy to see her. She had a few cuts on her face, but not enough to do much damage. She had to punch my side to keep me from hugging her to death.

"I'm just happy you're alright," I nearly sobbed.

"Yeah, yeah, do you want to find your parents or not?" she groaned, obviously as eager as I was earlier. I wiped non-existent tears away and nodded. I ruffled her hair and she gaped at me, slapping my hands as we went back out into the park.

"I got it!"

I blinked and glanced at the laptop screen in front of her, which showed a complex list of files and things that only meant- "You hacked it?"

Speck beamed at me, "I hacked it!"

We exchanged high fives and I eagerly grabbed the laptop from her. She cried in protest, saying I had no idea what I was doing. I didn't, so I went to the little search engine provided and started entering my fake parents' names, when I heard somebody gasp.

"Do you see this? Have you ever seen this before in your life?"

"Never, but I heard they're fascinating. I mean, they can _fly_!"

Speck and I glanced up to see a couple aweing over the newspaper in their hands. I peered at it as they gingerly walked by, and I saw a picture of what looked like... flying kids. A group of them. Six of them. On the front page. The letters read: FLYING KIDS AND THE GLOBAL CRISIS.

I didn't even know my mouth was open until Speck finally shook my shoulder out of the shock. She stared at me with wide eyes, and I with her. We stared at her for a moment, then at the laptop in front of us. My finger was only floating just above the enter button. _Flying... kids?_ I shot a sideways glance at Speck. She was clearly trying to rack her brain of anything she might know. What _I_ knew, though, was that we weren't the only ones out there, on the run, and running from the place that we feared every time we even thought of it.

And they had wings. Just like me.


	27. Chapter 27

I had to close the laptop to process what I just saw. Flying kids. _Flying. Kids._ And they were spreading awareness for global warming. There were so many things flying around in my brain at the moment. First, there were other flying kids out there. Second, they were free, definitely from ITex because nobody else would do that to kids (that I knew of). Third, they were trying to send a message for global warming, which made zero sense to me. Aren't they scared of being caught? But they have themselves plastered on the front page. Are they being protected? If so, by who? Who would accept them for who they are? They have _wings_ for crying out loud. There was also a good lot of them, maybe five or six in total. They seemed to be doing acrobatic stunts in the air, like they were part of Cirque de Soleil or something. They were showing off. They were showing off their freak-selves to promote awareness. Why? Why would they be doing this? I would be fearing my life and hiding out in the shadows. Wouldn't they be doing the same? There had to be something I was missing, none of it was making sense.

"Here," Speck turned the laptop to me. I didn't even see her take it from my lap. I glanced at the screen and gaped. There were tons of pictures of them. Flying around and doing flips in the air. There were even pictures of kids with cardboard wings taped to their back. There was even what looked like a link to something called "Fang's Blog." I clicked on it and it led to me to a site dedicated to one of the fellow flying kid's blogs. I gasped and scrolled through, seeing all the updates of their lives: running from near death experiences, being in Germany, and rallying together innocent human beings to fight against ITex. It was like the world was moving forward at an extremely fast pace and I was locked up for most of it.

I gulped and stared at the comments of each blog post: "I wish I had wings!" "You rock Fang!" "Will you and Max have babiiies?" It was disgusting. These kids, regular ol' kids with no mutations followed this winged guy, Fang, and wished to have wings like himself. It made me sick that they would allow their... _fans_ to be that way.

As much as I wanted to just gag at the entirety of the situation, Speck continued to scroll through the blog. "Whoa," was all she said that caught my attention. There were posts from at least over a year ago, maybe two; it was hard to even understand what year we were in now. I've missed so much. I wanted to read through all of it, all of their stories and adventures, but a person out of the corner of my eye caught my attention.

I glanced up and saw a person reading the same newspaper and had his nose deep within its pages. But it didn't feel like he was. I peered at him over the laptop, catching him glance at us and eye our oddly colored spots on our body.

"We should go," I whispered to Speck. She glanced up at me as I watched the guy with great interest while putting away the laptop. I adjusted the collar of my jacket and put my arm over her shoulder, guiding Speck away from him and out of the park.

Once we were away and found ourselves walking down another side of the strip mall, I let out a soft sigh. _Yeah,_ those _kids could show themselves. All they had was wings. Not..._ I blinked as Speck oohed at a pretty dress standing in a nearby window. _A tail, cat ears, and fish scales. They're more normal than me._ I watched as she started to do a little skip, proud of her feat of hacking ITex. _Speck was more normal than me._

My sigh caused Speck to look up at me with worry in her eyes. I shook my head, "Let's get some food. Then I think we should move." To where, I didn't know.

We were sitting on the branches of a large tree, eating away at our little mayo cheese sandwiches. I savored every bite, trying to keep my hunger at bay. It annoyed me, as it felt like I had to eat every second of the day. I instantly worried about my weight, thoughts haunting me from my lie of a past, but I ignored it. I was as thin as any runaway. Speck, on the other hand, was who I kept worrying about. Her legs still looked like sticks. I handed her my crust.

She shook her head, "No, you eat it, I don't like crust."

"Well, me either," I insisted, tossing it at her face. She scoffed and I laughed, licking my fingers. I carefully pulled the laptop out of my bag, turning it on and going back to the database before it flashed angrily at me. I groaned and handed it to Speck who easily got past the firewall. "Thanks," I muttered as I started searching. I was able to find my fake parents' files, and they were all right according to Jacob. Everything was word for word, even their intent after they "fell in love with me and didn't want to let me go". When I searched for my file: 4MB3R-001, only one thing came up. It was a large file of multiple scanned in images of written notes. It had coffee stains and red scratched pen all over it. It made me sick to read through every detailed note, so I quickly closed the laptop out of anger. I heard Speck say "easy" over my shoulder before curling up in the nook of her little tree branch. As I slid it back into my pack, Speck asked:

"What are you going to do now?"

I looked up at her, knowing full well I couldn't just go through this without telling her. But I didn't want it to be a burden for her. Nor did I want her to get caught up in all of this. She's never had a family. The only sort of family she had raised her to be an army pet.

"Amber?" she leaned down and I instinctively put a hand out, ready to catch her if she fell. We matched eyes and all I could think of was the first few times I held her hand back in the cages. Her big eyes filled with fear as they did their rounds of testing. She cried when it was her turn. She cried when it was mine. I was her only family now. I couldn't let her not know.

I sighed deeply, closing my eyes and trying to think. What _was_ I going to do? There wasn't much of my birth parents nor my twin brother in those files. I could go searching the sides of milk cartons, but what if my face wasn't on there? Or what if my brother wasn't there? How in the entirety of this universe will I be able to find him?

A small hand gripped my shoulder and I turned to see Speck literally dangling off her branch to hold onto me. Thankfully she was using her jacket as an anvil. I stared at her as she wiped away the tears on my cheeks. I didn't even know I was crying.

"We'll find them, don't worry," she said with her signature sweet smile.

I closed my eyes again and squeezed her little hand.


	28. Chapter 28

We were flying again, but longer. We were tracking a train to hop onto so we could get to Virginia. Yeah. Virginia. Turns out if you backtrack DNA samples and blood tests, you can find where your birth parents were born. And that was Virginia. Washington D.C. to be exact.

"I don't see the train!" Speck called over the wind. We now had a more secure system just in case she fell now. She hooked her backpack straps to mine, and tied the remaining strap things in a knot, _and_ I was holding her for extra measure. It was like a baby carrier but for large children.

I dipped a little bit lower to get out of the line of clouds, searching for the tracks. All I could see was flat nothingness. A small town here or there, but no train.

"Are you _sure_ we're going the right way?" I asked. We did a search for possible ways to get to Virginia without flying by plane, and the closest thing we could get to was by taking a train to Chicago, then hopping a couple more trains to get to Virginia. It was a little bit of a detour, but it was better than carrying this sack of potatoes around. She was quite heavy. _Gotta lean her off the bread crusts some more._

"I'm sure," she crossed her arms. I was starting to see more of her personality now. She wasn't just the small kid in the cage next to me anymore. She was spunky, had a bit of an attitude, and tried to protect me to the best of her extent. But all in all, she was just a kid. With a knife. And with a brain that can hack into any server you can imagine. I wondered what she would've been if she weren't mutated.

With my head in the clouds, literally, as I could only see white, I didn't see what was flying below me. Speck slapped my hands to ask me what those things were, so I went even lower. I gasped.

It was a swarm of flying Erasers. No wait, robots. Or, both? It was weird. They were in a formation, buzzing, no, it was more like humming, and they were headed straight towards us.

"What the h-" a bullet barely missed me and Speck screamed. And with that, the flying robot army was upon us. Speck screamed again as even more bullets seared past us. I clung to her, feeling a couple raking my skin. I couldn't defend myself like this. I couldn't defend her.

"Hold on!" I shouted, tucking my wings in as we fell straight down like a rock. Speck shrieked, turning and holding onto me as tight as possible. The robot things weren't fast enough. They sputtered and ran into each other before dropping after us. Wind roared in my ears as I covered Speck's face with my fingers. Free fall was usually a fun sensation you get during a roller coaster ride. But this wasn't fun at all. I knew this because I had to time it right. If I didn't unfurl my wings quick enough, we would go splat. The ground grew at a rapid pace; Speck's screams faded into the rushing air. I had to open my eyes.

We were closer to the ground now, and I was able to spot out some large cacti. But we weren't close enough. Speck screamed in my ear, "Amber!"

The ground grew more. I was starting to see more detail on the ground, the small bushes and plants were easier to see. "Amber!"

I could now see some rodents scurrying off, anticipating our demise as we hurtled even closer- "Amber! Amber!"

I could see ant hills, scurrying off to fetch food for their quee- "AMBER! AMBER!"

I unfurled them at last second, wafting up sand into my eyes as I tried to level myself out along the earth. My wings angled just perfectly, but if felt like I ripped them at the sudden unfurling. I winced as I powered through, beating my way parallel to the ground. A sickening crash happened behind me and I glanced back to see the robot things crashing down, some exploding shards and scrap metal. Some even exploded bits of fur and blood.

"Gross gross gross!" Speck screamed, slapping the bits and pieces away as quickly as possible. Some were able to avoid their demise, but I was still determined. My ear perked up to the sound of something honking. No, that wasn't honking, that was-

"The train!" I shouted. It was nearby. All I had to do was get there without these things trailing us. I couldn't think of anything. All I could think of was keeping Speck safe. I shook my head. There was no doubt about it.

With another beat of my wings, I darted up, higher to spot the train. _There!_ I could see it just a mile away, blaring its whistle and spewing smoke. More bullets rained from the sky, indicating they were above me now. I slammed my wings forward, stopping myself at the last second and almost losing Speck in the process, then went the opposite direction. More crunching metal was heard. They weren't fast enough. But I was sure they were as fast as this train.

"Amber!" Speck cried out as I aimed towards the train again. She stared over my shoulder at the things, trying to make sense of them. They had to be from ITex, but it seemed weird. Why robots? Why not regular Erasers? They hand plenty back in New Mexico. Was this another round of their supposed attempt at new grunts?

A sharp pain entered my side and I yelped, my hand flying to it. Something liquid-y spilled from it, and Speck stared at it in horror. I was hit. And I was bleeding. _Crap!_ I angled myself even lower, reaching up with the train and trying to look for an open car. All of them were closed, no windows, which meant that it was just cargo, no passengers. _Good, now all I have to do..._ I started untying Speck from myself.

"Amber!" she shrieked, still clinging to me. "What are you doing?" Another bullet shot past us, nearly hitting her.

"Trust me!" I finally untied her, and reached for the backpack hook. She stared up at me with wide eyes as I unlatched it, her thin arms squeezing me to no end. "When I say, let go, you let go!"

"What?" she screamed. "Are you crazy?"  
"Just do it!" I glared at her. "I have to lose these guys and I'm not going to risk your life while doing it!"

"Oh, and this is not risking my life how-"

"Let go!" I screamed, almost a yard away from the train.

She did as she was told, screaming as she tumbled down, grasping at the air until she landed straight in an open bed of hay. Her body got wedged just perfectly between two big barrels and she opened her eyes to fist bump the air. She yelled, elated, until she pointed up at me with wide eyes and shouted, "Amber! Watch out!"

One of them barreled right into me, making me lose my balance in the air. I tumbled, almost crashing down against the train's side before gaining height at the last second. A few of them crashed into it, leaving sparks as I flew out of their range. But there were more. A lot more. At least ten. I glanced back at them as I held my side. I could do another dive, but I couldn't hurt my wings again. If I did, I would surely go splat. So instead, I dove down towards the front of the train. I didn't bother to hide myself. All I wanted was to get rid of these guys. I dove at the last second and the front left of the train nicked my foot, making me wince as I flew alongside it. I heard a big crunch, then another crunch, and then a crash as three of them got plowed over. At first I was worried they would derail it, but it seemed okay. I tried another tactic as the remainder tailed me. I dove down at the last second, straight at the side of the train, then shot up as hard as I could. The side grazed me, making me catch my breath as I went towards the front again. Four more down. Their bits and pieces clanked across the ground as the train kept going.

Once I aimed down towards the front again, a blow from one of them caught my chest, and I hurtled backwards towards the ground. I heard a muffled cry in the wind as I scrambled for breath. Instead, I landed hard on the roof of a train car, grappling for something to hold onto. Instead, I tumbled back, the wind against me now as I struggled to grab hold of something. A felt a crack in my hand, then my elbow, which made me shriek and stop trying. I hit my head, my side, everything hurt as I struggled to stay on the train. I finally reached with my other hand and grabbed hold of something, and I gave myself a little cheer in response. But once I thought that, a large creature landed in front of me and glared at me.

Its eyes were laser red, and had the motions just of a robot. But it looked like an Eraser; skin, fangs, and everything. I gasped as it pressed a boot on my fingers holding on. I shouted at it, trying to pull myself closer to it to fight, but the wind again picked me up and I was holding on by my fingers. _No! I was not going to let this thing-_  
"Aaah!" a sickening crack hit the robot over the head, making it crumple at the knees. I breathed heavily at Speck holding a large metal rod over her head. She quickly pulled me back onto the train and I noticed that we were on the last car. _Thank god I held on_. I turned to give Speck a hug, when I heard their buzzing (humming?) noise again. I gasped as the remaining two aimed their guns at us, well, they were actually flame throwers attached to their arms. I ducked at the last second and Speck pulled me into the car. I felt the heat lick me as Speck slammed the door shut.

"We should be safe-" but as soon as she said that the door busted in, robot flamethrower guys in tow. How in the world do we defeat them? I quickly looked around and saw a row of cans labelled: KEEP AWAY FROM HEAT. Perfect.

"Speck! Help me with this!" I grabbed one, rolled it over and kicked it towards them. Speck kicked another one just as they started to flame it up. Big mistake.

The blast was enough to throw me off my feet, but I held onto Speck as tight as possible as the explosion hurtled us towards the front of the car. I lost consciousness for a second, but as soon as I opened my eyes, I stared in awe at the broken half of the car we still managed to stay on. The back half was gone, as if somebody blew a hole in it. _We did that_. And there was no robot in sight. Wind blew through our hair, tousling mine the most as we stared at the train tracks disappearing in the distance.

I adjusted my position and let go of Speck, pain still registering for me but faint at the moment, and made sure I kept towards the front of the car. Speck was in much shock as I was, holding onto the handle of the other door I didn't see before. Her chest heaved:

"We are _not_ flying again."


	29. Chapter 29

Speck made sure of it too. She didn't like the fact that she could've missed the train, despite me clearly knowing she'd be fine. Her focus was more on tying my bandages tight around my waist. I winced as she pulled the last of the bandage and tucked it under. She then dug into her bag for antiseptic stuff to put on our cuts.

"What were those guys?" I asked, gently touching around the wound. Beads of sweat sat on my neck; I could still feel the pain in my side. But it wasn't as bad as I thought it to be. Not compared to being back there, and that's saying something.

"No idea," Speck mumbled, clearly trying to understand them. She dabbed stuff on her cuts. "They were robots, I could tell by the humming but-"

"They also looked like Erasers," I cut in.

"Yeah, but why would they need robots? It's not like they're running out," she wondered. I nodded. There were plenty of Erasers back where we came from. _But_ they couldn't fly.

"Maybe they can only get robots to fly, and not the actual Erasers," I suggested.

She shook her head, "No, I've read up accounts of flying Erasers."

"What?" I blinked. "But none of them had wings back there."

"Not at _that_ branch."

That branch. Of course, there were more. And that meant there were even more kids out there like us. Mutants. My stomach twisted, only to make me wince in pain again. I touched my side. "Well if they're not at _that_ branch," I asked, looking at her finishing up covering her cuts. "What branch are they from?"

"Let me check," she pulled out the laptop from my bag and started searching. I leaned back on the boxes in the car, feeling them shift a little under my shoulders. I let my wings relax, stretching them a bit before letting them drape over my arms. My ears twitched the sound of the train horn blaring, which somewhat startled me. But we were taking this train far. I had to get used to it.

"This train goes to Chicago, right?" she asked, sounding unsure.

"Yeah, why?" I wanted to lean forward to see what she had up, but the pain kept me from moving.

"Apparently Erasers are dying out, everywhere," her eyes widened at the screen. "They're getting rid of them." I wondered if that also meant Jacob, and I hoped that was the case. The thought of him made me cringe, and also want to kill him if I could. But it sounded like I didn't have to.

"They're replacing them with M22's, the new breed of robotic Erasers. They're easier to control, better in fighting, and easy to build," she rambled, the screen reflecting in her eyes. "They originated from-" I saw her squint at the screen. "Germany?"

"Germany?" I echoed. "That's in Europe, how'd they get here?"

Her eyes widened a bit, "That's the headquarters." She turned the laptop towards me, which revealed a website for a company. They sold cars, beer cans, diapers, practically everything. Up top in big letters it said, "Welcome to ITex!"

"Oh my god-" I cupped my mouth. Now that I was seeing their products plastered on their site, I remembered. All of the products I grew up with as a kid had their symbol on it. On the bottoms of my sippy cups. On the tags of my clothes. It was everywhere. They owned everything. _And experimenting on kids isn't enough?_ I felt anger boil up inside me, so I slammed the laptop shut.

"Hey! I wasn't do-"

"What's _wrong_ with them?" I shouted, quieting Speck instantly. "I mean, isn't owning like half the world enough? Why would they be experimenting on us? On _kids_? What the hell is _wrong_ with them?" I forced myself to a stand, feeling a twinge in my side as Speck rose with me. I shooed her away, "Why do they do this?" I felt water in my eyes. "Why us? Why kids? Why-" My mouth wavered before I could say 'me' and I covered my face with my hand, trying to keep myself from crying.

Speck moved her hand to hold mine, "It's because they're sickos. Psychos. Whack jobs."

I shook, "But w-why-?"

She wrapped her skinny arms around me, making me wince so she loosened her grip, "I don't know. I don't know. But without them I wouldn't be alive." I paused my hiccupping at her words. She was right. Without them, she wouldn't even be here. I would've never known about her. Without her I would be living a normal life. Without them, she wouldn't even be a figment of their imagination.

I heard her sniff, "I wouldn't be here without them." How could I shut that down? How could _she?_ She's living a life they made for her. Her life. A life she has no control over, until now.

I pulled her close to me, ignoring the shooting pain in my side. I could feel her body heave a bit and her tears reaching my clothes. Putting a hand on her head, I gave her a little kiss and pet her hair. "It's alright. You are the one, good thing that came from them. That's all that matters." That's all that matters. She was human, to an extent. Life is not something handed to you, it's a gift. And she was a gift. Out of the horrible, crude beings that emerged from that place, she was the sunshine of heaven. She broke through that barrier. Yeah, they made her, but that's not what matters. She's Speck. My Speck.

"Really?" she sniffed again. _Oh geez, did I say that out loud?_

She chuckled, "You're the best, Amber." She hugged me tightly, reminding me of the wound I had. But she didn't stop.

"You're the best- ah- but could you let up a little? Please?" I tried to gently push her away.

She shook her head and rested her head against my chest, "Nope. This is what you get for almost letting me fall to my death."

"Hey you're the one who let go!" I retorted.

"You're the one who told me to!"

"Exactly!" I playfully smacked her hand and she gawked, a smile spreading on her face as she lunged at me with a playful shriek. I reached for her, tickling her as she tickled me, and we wrestled until we ended up on our backs giggling like long lost sisters.

Once that died down, she spoke up, "Amber?"

I turned my head to look at her, smiling eye to eye, "Yeah?"

"After we're done with this... finding your parents and all... will you remember me?"

I paused and thought of it. What _does_ happen afterwards? Do I stay with them? I assumed yes but, will they even accept me for what I am? With everything? And do they even remember me? I doubted it. And what about Speck? I couldn't just leave her on her own.

"Of course not!" I sharply said, making her whip her head at me with pleading eyes. I grabbed her hand with mine, "You're staying with me, I'm not letting you go ever again."

She smiled, a tear welling up in her eye, "Like sisters?"

I smiled back, "Like family."


	30. Chapter 30

We slept the majority of the train ride, well, mostly I did. I was still recovering from the bullet wound in my side. I ate my peanut butter sandwich as Speck tapped away on the laptop, occasionally groaning and tapping even faster. I asked her what she was doing, and she told me she was trying to put up a protection wall to keep us undetected by ITex.

"And once you do that, they won't find us anymore?" I asked, nibbling on the crust.

She nodded, stretching her arms behind her head and yawning, "But we should still be careful."

I nodded back. _They must be tracking us through the laptop... but how?_ It made me think. I rested my head against one of the boxes behind me and thought some more. _How did they know we had it?_ Speck was holding the laptop when we ran into them, _but how did they know where we were before then?_ I glanced at Speck furiously typing away. _Is it because of her?_ My tail flicked a little, grabbing my attention. _Or me?_ The more I stared at my tail flicking around, the more it started to make sense in my mind.

"Hey Speck-"

"Got it!" she cried happily. "Now we are free from their clutches!" She placed the laptop on my legs. It greeted me with a success sign that the firewall was up.

"Wow," I awed. "You did this? _All_ of this?"

"Eyup!" she beamed.

I whistled, smiling at her and completely forgetting what was on my mind earlier, "You are a little genius." I quickly exited it out of the windows, and tapped on the internet browser. Google instantly popped up. I let out a deep breath I had been holding in, my fingers hovering over the keyboard. "Alright, here goes nothing," I started typing.

* * *

"This doesn't make any sense!"

Speck was fiddling with her knife, spinning it with her hand like it was a fidget toy. I was pacing the car, grabbing my hair and trying to make sense of what I found. Turns out, I didn't have a twin. But it also said I did. My parents weren't expecting twins. But it also said they did. It made zero sense, and the more I went deeper into the idea of how I was even alive, the more confused I got. The random numbers weren't making any sense either.

"If I even did go to them, would they even believe me?" I spurted out.

"Well you'd just have to convince them," Speck pointed out.

"How?" I scratched my head, "Say 'oh I'm that lost twin you once had that you expected but also wasn't expecting'? Or- hah, remember your son? That got kidnapped? I'm his twin, if you didn't know. I would tell you we look alike, but I've never seen him, have you?"

"Hey- don't be like th-"

"But will they? Will they see me? Will they ever see me as their lost daughter? Will they ever see me as somebody important?" Somebody _not_ meant to be cooped up for a good heft of their life stuck in the cage and prodded like an animal?

"You _are_ important Amber-"

"And that's not even my name!" I cut in again, throwing my hands up into the air. "I know that's not! I chose that name based off of my stupid experiment name. Is that all I am? An experiment?"

"You're not the only one, you know!" she shouted at me. I flipped my head to stare at her, her soft brown eyes trying to talk to me. I huffed and turned around, fingering my bandages.

"At least you had a purpose," I spat.

"You do too," she bit back.

"But at least you're not stuck in a lab."

"At least you're not the one having to end up kidnapping kids and killing them if possible," she muttered, obviously wanting to put me in my place. And as much as those words hit home for me, I couldn't let it slide. She was right, but I needed this right now. I needed somebody to take over this for me. I was tired of running circles to find the answers.

"I know I just-" I replied, wanting to tell her how I feel but it just felt too much. I needed to find them. I wanted to know if they knew about me, cared about me. But what would that accomplish? If they did, they would probably want to watch over me, but with all of these freakish additions? How could they accept that? And let's say they didn't, then I would know they never cared and I'd still feel the same. I finally sat down and put my head in my hands, sighing and rubbing my eyes, "I just want to know without getting hurt. That's all I want."

"I know," I heard Speck, not looking up at her.

"Ugh," I rubbed my temples, a headache settling in. "What's the point? I just know either way I'm going to get hurt, and I don't think there's a way of me _not_ getting hurt. I don't-" I paused, swallowing a bit of fear and making my voice a little shaky. "I-I don't want them to see me as something different."

"But we are. We are different," her voice trailed off a little bit, but I took no notice to it. I was trying to put a brave face on but it was difficult.

"I wish there was a way," I choked. "I wish there was a way that I could just go back to the beginning and change things. Like Harry Potter with that time thing."

"Mmm," I heard her say as I continued.

"They could go back in time and change things without being seen... hell, I don't think I could even do that. Look at me now- or if I went back in time would I look like this? Maybe it's different in our world? Hell I'm different, but ITex likes different."

"Mhmm," I heard again, now noticing she wasn't paying attention. I looked up at her hunched over the laptop, typing away like mad. "Speck? What are you doing?" I leaned forward and noticed that she wasn't on the files anymore. She was scouring the web for something. She got to a page and started scrolling. I wrinkled my nose.

"'Fang's Blog?' Really, Speck?" I raised an eyebrow at her. _Has she been lured into his weird trap of a fandom?_

"Yeah," she mumbled, eyes glued to the screen as she skimmed through the answered questions, finally getting to some original posts of his. She started reading them thoroughly as I rubbed my temples again.

"If you start rambling on how much you want wings or that he's h-"

"Here," she stopped me. She started reading one of his posts, "'We, the flock, I mean, should be working toward something besides just trying to eat enough every day. For a long time, our goal was to find our parents. And look how well _that_ turned out for us.'"

My eyes widened, "What?" Then they narrowed. "Are you pulling my leg?"

Speck shook her head, "That's one of his posts, and that's just _one_."

So of course, I had to read it. And I did. Then the next one. And the one following that. And I ended up reading all of his posts, even the comments, the ones that stood out to me the most (there was a girl who was fairly interested in the guy, Fang, and this other girl in his flock, the leader, Max, having babies... yuck), all the way to the current one. Currently, they were in Antarctica, and were helping support saving the world due to climate change.

"Ant _arctica?_ " I asked aloud. "I don't even understand how _I_ could even be there. It's... freezing there! And with their wings too!"

"I _know_!" Speck chimed in. " _And_ they're doing it to support the climate change thing!" For a second it felt like I was stuck in a little cute movie where Speck and I were two girls gossiping over a hot magazine model. So, I quickly snapped myself out of it.

"Wait- wait- why were you so focused on this rather than listening to me? I know his blog is interesting and all but..." I couldn't even continue. Strangely enough, by reading through all of their experiences, I could tell why she leaned towards it. It was all about these mutant kids, like us, well almost, living a crazy life, as a group, and they were trying to just survive and find answers, just like us. And they managed to find information about their parents whereas I'm stuck with the golden key to Mount Olympus and don't know how to get in.

Something clicked in my brain and I looked at Speck, "You think they can help us."

She shamefully nodded, fiddling with her jacket a little bit, "They've already gone through more than us, out on their own, I mean. They might be able to help us find your birth parents."

"And maybe even my brother," I added, my heart fluttering a bit with excitement.

"Let's hope so-" we both froze to notice that the landscape outside started dramatically changing. It wasn't the original brown, barren, landscape we were used to seeing throughout the train ride. We both stood up and pressed our faces to the little glass window at the end of the car, peering out towards the sides. It was green, lots of green, and I could see tall buildings, cars, and more town-like land ahead.

"We must be close to Chicago," I muttered, feeling Speck nod against my shoulder as she looked out to the greenery.

"But what are we going to do now? It's not like we can go to Antarctica. That's the other way," she wondered, her face in awe at seeing the landscape. I bet she hasn't seen this much green until now. I was also starting to feel some humidity building up inside the car. I took the rubber band from the old bread bag off my wrist and threw my overlong hair up in a ponytail, trying to think. She was right. Going more south will just delay us even more. And I doubted that I could fly with this injury, let alone run that well. The more I thought about it, the more I realized there was no other choice. I had to face them sooner or later.

"We're going to see my parents, otherwise I'll regret it if I never see them."


	31. Chapter 31

A sharp ping came from his backpack, catching his attention. He wondered who would be messaging him _now_. They were almost there, and he doubted they had wifi. He quickly pulled it out and went to his messages. He tapped on the newest one titled _We Need Help_ but it froze on the loading screen. He cursed under his breath and kept hitting the refresh key.

"You know there's no internet towers here," a girl stood in the doorway of the bunk room.

He frowned at the screen, "I know."

He felt her eyes on him, making him sigh and close it up. He wouldn't be able to reach whoever sent the message now. But it seemed... urgent or something. He almost always gets messages from his fans, but never anything like that. Were they in trouble for protesting? Or was it something else?

"Fang?"

He sighed and set it back on his bed, knowing he would have to wait. Saving the world came first, at least, in her mind. He already put up a post for telling people where they were going to be, and what they could do in the meantime. He hoped they were okay.

"Hello? Bridgette said she wants to talk to us," she crossed her arms over her chest, clearly shivering from the cold. He couldn't hold back his smile. She never liked the cold. She was a warm beach, sunny skies girl. She narrowed her eyes at him, opening her mouth to speak but he cut her off:

"I'm coming, I just got another message," he tightened his coat around him.

She huffed and looked at him, "You have crazy fans." He didn't reply right away so she stopped him from leaving, "Everything okay?"

He nodded, "It's probably nothing." He started walking towards the front of the ship, her in tow. He had a feeling it might actually be something, but he couldn't do anything. He heard her sniff and mutter under her breath behind him. Smirking he turned to look at her, "Saving the world means starting at the bottom, Max."

She punched his shoulder and entered the hull of the ship, "Shut up."

* * *

I'm not going to explain the entirety of the ride to Virginia, it was pretty boring overall. Well, it was more nerve wracking than anything. Speck managed to score us a credit card and we were able to get seats for multiple trains along the gorgeous Midwest. And I have to say, it was pure gorgeous. When we got to Chicago, we walked along the pier and ate ice cream and saw the Giant Bean statue. We stopped in Ohio for a night, and I had to fend off a wild dog who got into one of our bags. Speck thought it was hilarious and named him Zeke. Now we were just hopping off the train just inside Virginia's borders.

Once we walked up out of the subway, I had to stretch. It felt incredibly cramped throughout the ride, and I was itching to spread my wings a little bit. My skin also felt incredibly dry, and I assumed it was because of the fish thing. Speck was too, she was starting to shed a little bit around her wrists.

"Can we eat? I'm starving," she said, scratching around her hands.

"We should find a lake or something first," I grabbed her hand to stop her. "Your skin is drier than mine."

She groaned, knowing full well I was right, despite our ever-hungry stomachs. We walked over to the kiosk standing next to the subway's entrance. We looked and saw a blue blob just a few blocks away. As we walked there, Speck awed at the sights around her. The buildings were more old-fashioned, and some of the side roads were cobblestone. She was fascinated that they didn't even think to update them, finding it quite interesting since there were still gas lamps along some paths. I chuckled at her, thinking of how my birth parents would think about keeping her too. If they didn't accept her, I couldn't stay. I couldn't bear to think of her being thrown into the foster system. ITex would surely grab her with ease. I tried not to think about it and laughed as she started skipping down the path.

Once we hit the lake, my insides tensed up at the amount of people around it. Some were fishing, others were jogging, and a few were just strolling around holding hands. A girl glanced in our direction when we paused right on the jogging path and stared at the water. I wanted to get out of there, but my body craved for the water. I felt Speck tap on my hand and point towards the other side where a cluster of trees were. I nodded and we followed the path, circling the lake and carefully sauntering into the trees. We set our stuff down not too far from us and stripped down to the bare essentials. I quietly slipped into the water and let out a happy sigh of relief. Making sure nobody was watching, and realizing nobody was even nearby, I relaxed my wings under the water. The water weaved through the feathers, making me close my eyes and dip even lower, up to my nose.

"Amb-"

"Shh," I bubbled, trying to relax.

"No- Amber, look," I opened my eyes to see her pointing at the opposite end of the lake. It looked like some officers were talking to the people there. At first glance it looked harmless, but then they started to point in our direction, and I don't know if it was a trick of the light or not, but I swear I saw one of them with yellow eyes.

"We should go-"

"Yep!" Speck quickly started wading back to shore, kicking water back in my face. My wings were wet and dripping, and they just made my back even more wet. How was I going to dry them? We quickly went back to our bags, and I literally shook my body like a dog. Best bet. My wings puffed up and I reached to comb the feathers to the best of my ability. Speck threw my jacket and bag at me, and we quickly walked back out of the forest, onto the path, and right into the officers. I froze at the looks they had on their faces. _Crap!_

"Excuse me kids," one of them said. He had a deep voice and I instinctively stepped forward, putting myself between them and Speck. There were two of them, both fairly tall and burly, and they both had short cut hair. They did not have the same air of regular officers, and looked ready to kill than protect.

"There's a no swimming rule, and we have reports of you two swimming in the lake?" the other looked us up and down. There was no doubt we were, we were sopping wet. My hair was dripping. In any regular situation, as any regular kid, I would feel embarrassed and try to weed myself out of it. But no, we were mutant runaways fearing the hellhole we escaped. I had to act like any other kid, or we wouldn't be able to get out of this.

I thought of the most embarrassing thing I could imagine in order to make myself blush, "A-Ah um... y-yeah we were..." I glanced at Speck whose eyes were wide, clearly wondering what I was trying to pull. I gulped and looked at my feet, "W-We didn't see the sign... s-sorry officers..." I wiggled my fingers to get Speck's attention and follow suit. I heard her murmur a sorry as well. Good.

I continued to stare at my feet, but peered through my overlong bangs at the officer, ready to attack as they discussed what to do. I felt small fingers grab mine, and I squeezed them in reply. If this went south, I would have to bolt it, no way would we be able to fight them off. One of them looked at their watch and I gulped again. _Please let us go, please-_

"Alright, just don't do it again. This is a warning for now."

I let out a shaky sigh, hoping they didn't notice. They looked at us again as I grabbed Speck's hand to walk off. My insides were churning and once we got out of sight I doubled over to catch my breath. I could've sworn they had yellow eyes, something any of those horrid Erasers would have. They even looked to have enough bulk on them to be one.

"That was too close," Speck breathed, leaning against the side of a building with her arm outstretched. "Good thinking though."

I half-heartedly laughed, "When you look like any average kid in trouble, you act like one." Thank god they didn't ask for IDs or anything, we were too young to have one. That air and look of them still made me tense; why weren't they Erasers? They could've easily been. "They felt off... didn't they?" I asked Speck.

She lightly shook her head, wringing out the hem of her shirt to the best of her ability. Her hair shined a bit in the light as she turned to me, "They did... but how could they be Erasers? Aren't they dying off?"

She had a point. "Right... hah-" I chuckled a bit. "I must be going crazy or something."

Speck narrowed her eyes at me like I offended her, "You're not. It's just instincts."

"Instincts? Wow- I would've never guessed," I retorted.

"You know what I mean," her face fell again, making me worried I said something bad. Her eyes stared at the ground where droplets landed from her jacket. Once I caught my breath and gave her another once over, about to put a hand out to her shoulder, a low gurgle-growl erupted from my stomach. She giggled and pointed at me as I hugged myself to shush the growling, "Told you we should've gotten something to eat!"

I rolled my eyes, "Alright fine, you win. Winner decides where we go."

She thought a bit, her mouth making dimples in her cheeks as it twisted all cute like. I honestly wanted to squeeze her cheeks right then and there, but I knew she would slap me for it. "I don't know..." she sighed. She glanced down the street and saw a bustling restaurant where waiters served something delicious to their guests. "I want to sit down and eat. I'm tired of walking and eating," she pouted.

Raising and eyebrow, I bent down a little to her level, "Really? A restaurant? A closed environment where any ITex goons can come in, barrel down everyone and easily corner us in a heartbeat?"

"No!" she piped back, obviously frustrated. "I mean the ones where you can sit outside." She pointed towards the same place as before, where customers sat under billowed umbrellas and sipped their coffee. "If something happens, we can just up and run." She crossed her arms and looked at me.

I copied her as I stood back up, "I'm not sure Speck, that's a lot of people to face."

"We face a lot of people every day, not everybody is evil," she pointed out, clearly referencing the officers we talked to. I wanted to punch and run from them, but they were just ordinary people. _Ordinary_. Something we could never be, yet Speck wanted a dose of it. But sitting down at a restaurant? It was tough enough to even get seats, let alone ones outside. And what about service? Other people there? What if we sat next to a cop, or were asked to see our ID's? The more I thought about it though, the more I thought of the positives. They _would_ have better food than the vendors we kept frequenting. Plus, we would get a break from walking. It would be like we were normal people.

Sighing, I gently nodded and she jumped up and down in glee, "I'm going to eat everything on the menu!"

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

Hey y'all! I'm so glad you're liking the story so far! I know it's been a while since an update - my life has changed a lot over the past year and I was unable to do anything. I deeply apologize for the wait, but don't worry! There is still a LOT to come with this story! Thanks again my avid readers! ^^


	32. Chapter 32

Once we sat down at our little table, the furthest we could get from the door, Speck started to ooh at the menu options. Of course, she would be at ease, and of course she chose the busiest restaurant on the planet. We were wedged into our little two-person table between a family celebrating a birthday and a group of old farts catching up with each other. It didn't help that the family had two little kids running around like maniacs. With the hustling and bustling of the waiters, the squeals from the kids wanting more soda, and the oldies laughing about that one-time Jan flashed her ex, I was definitely on edge. I was gripping the menu so tight in my hands I managed to bend it backwards and almost knock over Speck's glass of water.

"Amber, everything's fine!" she whispered, catching it and placing it on the other side of her.

"Is it?" I buried my nose into the page, not even reading anything, just focusing on the sounds around me. I was waiting for the crash of an Eraser running towards us, or the bang of a hand gun, or the growl of a dog, or the breath of hot saliva, or-

"What can I get for you ladies today?"

I jumped and proceeded to knock over _my_ glass onto my plate, splashing it up and onto my clothes. Speck flared her eyes at me as the waiter quickly moved to wipe it down. I breathed heavily and unsuccessfully tried to dab away the water with my napkin. I repeated my sorries to her as she constantly replied, "Don't worry, it happens all the time!" Once all that was done and my shirt wet again, she smiled at us while I flushed in embarrassment, "Now, what would you ladies like to drink?"

Speck beamed at her, obviously liking the hospitality radiating from her. "Could I get two Sprites please? And a cherry chocolate milkshake? And a-" She winced as I kicked her shin with my foot. We matched eyes and I gave her the glare to not order so much. She blushed and went back to the menu, "Sorry, um... can I just have the milkshake please?"

"For a drink?" the waitress questioned, raising her perfectly drawn eyebrow.

"She likes to have dessert first," I butted in, kicking Speck's shin again. She stuck her tongue out at me, rubbing the area. "She'll have that and then maybe a Sprite later?" Speck lowly nodded with a pout on her face. _Good, we don't need to attract more attention_. We already got a few stares just because of our green-blue scales over our bodies. I glanced over the drink menu again. "I'll have a lemonade, and a Sprite later too." The waiter nodded and closed up her notepad, and said she'll be back with our drinks.

I let out a shaky sigh and looked over the menu again. As much as I wanted to just run from this whole situation, my stomach yearned for some grub. Plus, Speck was loving it. I glanced over at her, forcing a smirk as she bounced in her seat. "Look Amber, they even have steak here!" she pointed at it as her eyes glazed to another item. "And pasta! Ooh- shrimp and mushrooms in the taga- tagla... tagatel-" She frowned at the word.

"Tagliatelle?" I spoke, reading the pasta dish.

"Yeah! Doesn't that sound delicious?" she hungrily stared at the menu.

I knew I couldn't beat her in being worried. We were finally getting a break from it all. But because of it, my gut was telling me it wasn't right. Like the quiet before the storm. Letting out a shaky breath, I decided on a meal and an appetizer, knowing it would help fuel us in our journey. Once the waiter came back around, we placed our order for fried pickles and asparagus as our appetizer, the tagliatelle dish with extra mushrooms for Speck, and a grilled burger with bacon and tomatoes with a side of sweet potato fries for me. We were also planning for dessert afterwards.

Once she left, flustered with the amount of food we ordered, I leaned back in my chair to stretch a bit. Sitting here, being able to feel just a little bit more human than I've ever had, strangely felt good. It brought back several memories of me sitting with my parents, my fake parents, as I stuffed myself to the brim with a sundae only a sumo wrestler could finish. I lightly smiled but it quickly faded at the thought of them again. What if I grew up with my _real_ parents? Would I have experienced everything up until now? Would I have ever been created into this... thing?

"So we're headed to D.C. right?" Speck slurped away at her water.

"Right," I replied, opening my mouth to say something just as the waiter brought over Speck's milkshake. It was ginormous, and the cherry on top just perfected it. Speck oohed and thanked the waiter. She happily went to town on it, pausing as I watched her sip the glorious dessert. She pushed it my way and I happily took a taste. The chocolate swirled around my taste buds; the cherry flavor kicking in with the sharp, sweet tang; the coldness making me shiver in delight, "Oh my god-"

"Doesn't it?" she pulled it back to sip on as I continued.

I licked my lips as I thought about our next move, "I think our best bet is to take a bus." As much as I wanted to deny it. Seeing as our surroundings were more jampacked than your regular southwest desert, I didn't want to take any chances of trying to take flight and being seen. Plus, there were buildings here as high as my altitude limit. "I don't want to take the subway again."

"I don't even think it goes that far," Speck happily slurped. From where we landed, D.C. seemed like ages to get to. It didn't help that there were other cities and towns to wade through to get there. When I read that my parents were located there, I instantly thought if they lived near the White House, but instantly denied it. If they did, I doubted they would give up on finding me.

"We'd have to get some cash too," I added. Buses only took coins and paper, but with how far we were going? Maybe we should just take a cab- no, too private. The more public, the better. The likelihood of them going after us is slight. "And also stock up, we're starting to run low on food."

"Right!" she smiled, nearly done with the shake. The waiter set down our appetizers, and I tried to keep myself from eating everything right then and there. I slapped Speck's hand for grabbing a handful of the fried pickles, "But I'm hungry."

I frowned at her, "You just had a milkshake, and we're still expecting our meal."

Pouting, she took a pickle and nibbled on it to spite me. I rolled my eyes and dipped an asparagus into the dip. It also tasted amazing, or was that the dip? I closed my eyes and took in the flavors. I could just eat this all day. At that thought, I glanced around and grabbed a couple from each basket and placed into my napkin. I tied it all up and slipped it into my bag for later.

"So where exactly do they live?" Speck asked as she loudly slurped away the rest of her drink. A kid behind her looked hungrily in her direction.

"You should know," I huffed. "You read the file. It's fifty-four thirty, Jefferson St. It's a corner house, and they live a few blocks away from a church." I couldn't help but memorize the information, just in case we lost the laptop.

"Does the bus go all the way there?" she queried.

"I doubt it, it looked like a residential neighborhood. Most likely near the church, or a park, or something."

"Do you think they'll recognize you?"

I paused, looking at her, "I don't know. I was a baby, most likely, the last time they saw me..." At least I hoped so. Well, the files wouldn't lie. _Would they?_ I hoped that they would recognize me. I mean, I was their daughter after all.

"Maybe if they had a picture? Or birth certificate?"

"You're very nosey today," I teased, poking a fried asparagus at her.

She shrugged, "The more you know, the better."

"Excuse me."

I whipped around, expecting a menacing person ready to deck me, but only to see an elderly lady tapping my shoulder. Her white hair curled around her scalp, and freckles dappled her wrinkled skin. Her eyes peered behind small, square shaped glasses, looking me up and down. My teeth clenched. "Do you happen to be in a gang?"

 _Wha-?_

I stared at the woman in confusion, now realizing that the rest of the table was also looking at me, as well as Speck while she dipped a pickle in the remains of her shake. I blinked and the lady matched eyes with me. _Was she serious?_

"Uh- uhum- what do you mean?" I nervously chuckled. _No way was she serious..._

"I mean are you in a gang? You two seem quite different, except for those strange tattoos over your skin," she pointed to the speckles of scales on my arms, as well as the ones on Speck's face. It didn't register what she was saying until a man next to her added, "Who else would have tattoos like that? Kids these days are getting into the weirdest things."

I heard Speck snort and I tried my hardest to hold back a giggle. A _gang_? Seriously? And all this time I thought people were seeing us as runaway kids looking for no good. But it made sense to these oldies, since we had these fancy _tattoos_ and all.

"Yeah, sure we are," I chuckled, smirking as Speck slowly drew her knife out of her pocket just so they could see. The woman's eyes widened at the glint of it, the color washing out of her cheeks. I leaned forward to lowly whisper, "You should watch what you're saying, or you might all be in trouble." She went even more, if possible, pale and turned back around. The chatter at their table went silent.

Turning back around, I glanced at Speck before bursting into laughter. A _gang_! Who would've thought of that? Speck joined me, grinning from ear to ear. I kept trying to speak, but every time I opened my mouth I wheezed from laughing. It was the most ridiculous thing that ever came to mind. Whoever put "gang" before "runaway" was just crazy. It goes to show that when you live on the street, everybody else was too innocent for their own good.

Once our main meal came around, and we started chowing down, I thought of how we were going to get to my house- home- or whatever. I chewed a fry slowly, trying to muster up some image of my parents, of what they would look like, and what I would say to them. My insides churned so much I had to set my burger down.

"Amber?" Speck twirled her pasta with her fork.

"I'm fine," I muttered. But I wasn't. The more I wanted to not think about it, the more it came back slapping me across the face.

"Here's your receipt ladies."

I almost kneed Speck as the waiter set a little booklet down and a pen sticking out of it. She walked off to tend to another tables' needs. The table behind Speck was getting cleaned, and my food was getting cold the longer I looked at it.

"Here," Speck handed me the credit card and I tucked it in the book. I had to double take at the total, but tried to keep a straight face as the waiter came back around to grab it. _This is what we get for dining in_. I could feel Speck's eyes on me, and I lightly pushed away my plate. "What's wrong?"

"You know," I hung my head. The more time passed, the closer I was to seeing them. My parents. My real, actual, biological parents. It was nerve wracking. I clenched my fist, ready to leave when the waiter came back to say: "Your card isn't working."

"What?" Speck blinked, glancing at me in worry.

I shook my head, needing to focus on the present, "It should. We just used it today."

The lady shook her head in reply, "Sorry, I tried a couple times, but it keeps coming back as declined." She handed me the card and I stared at it, "Maybe your card provider-"

She didn't finish her sentence because I was already up and running, grabbing Speck by her arm and throwing her over the little fence where we ate. The busboy behind her shouted as plates went flying, her legs kicking back to race out of there. I threw my bag over my shoulder and brought Speck close to me as I picked up speed. This was the only good option I thought of. It was either this or waiting around for officers to write us up. Oh heck no I was not going to allow that. Speck clung to me as I raced down the sidewalk, glancing back at the restaurant to see them just giving up. They couldn't do anything. I laughed at them as I rounded a corner and started slowing down to a jog. I then rounded into an alleyway and set Speck down. She stumbled and plopped onto the ground, breathing heavily from the sudden surge of the run. I took a couple breaths to cool down.

"Sorry we had to bolt," I breathed. "I know you wanted dessert."

"It's fine," she replied, tilting her head back to bask in the sun. She then smirked and started laughing. I raised an eyebrow at her, wondering if she was getting a "runner's high" or something.

"I can't believe they thought we were in a _gang_!" she laughed, holding her sides.

I chuckled, "Yeah, that was pretty crazy."

"Heh, if only they found out the truth!" she grinned.


	33. Chapter 33

I have to say, the closer I got towards my real parents' house, the antsier I got. Not to mention my senses were on high alert, trying to determine if this was a trap or not. We didn't face a single Eraser or robot during our rides to D.C. The second bus we boarded I nearly clocked the driver in the face due to his excessive facial hair. He dodged and yelled at me, so I fibbed and told him I just killed a mosquito buzzing around his head before he could call police. He glared at me through his rear-view mirror throughout the entire ride. Every second we got closer, every time the door opened to let a new person on, my heart rate kicked up and I readied myself to bolt without hesitation.

It also didn't help that Speck wanted to stop and see everything. All I wanted was to just get there and get it over with, despite my nervousness, but stopping to go check out a cool place every few blocks? I was ready to strangle her. But it made her happy, at ease, and not as worried as I was. Every so often she would shoot me a smile and my hands would stop clenching the seat in front of me. At least she aided in easing my stress.

With a nudge, Speck walked towards the back of the semi-busy bus with a smoothie in hand as I dished out the last bit of our change in my pockets. The driver raised an eyebrow as I put in fifteen dollars with pennies and dimes. I brushed my pants and joined Speck in the back, who pulled out the laptop as soon as I sat down.

"What are you looking up?" I asked as she typed into the search engine something.

"Shh," she caught me, leaning over it as she continued to type. I had to lean in to hear her better. "Getting more money." She hit enter and started going at it; her fingers flew across the keyboard as she keyed in information for another credit card.

I stared out the window as she did so, seeing the sun start to reach the horizon on our day of bus hopping. We were close, I could feel it, as well as see it. The sky line was starting to morph into tree lines, and more residential houses popped up. Would they be living in a fancy house? A two story? Were they rich? Poor? Did they have a dog? Were they stuck up? Did they have a housekeeper? Did they miss me?

Trying to imagine them brought my attention back to our dine and dash. I glanced at the computer screen. How did our card stop working? Was it because we were making ridiculous purchases? Was it because we kept moving from state to state? Did they think we stole the card? I watched Speck and the horrible thought came to me again. I shook my head to not think of it. It wasn't possible... right? Speck told me she set up firewalls; she made sure that they wouldn't be able to track us. I trusted her on that, but what if they planted one _in_ us? We were treated like animals, merchandise, wouldn't they want to be able to find us if we got lost? Or, in our case, ran away?

"There." I jumped as she closed the laptop and stretched her skinny arms behind her head. "We should be able to pick it up at the next bank we reach." I looked at my legs and felt Speck's eyes turn to me. I didn't want to tell her, nor even bring up the possibility, because what if it was true? That they planted a tracker in us? What would we do then? Cut it out?

"Don't worry!" I looked at her and she gently smiled, squeezing my hand. "You'll be fine, I'll be right there with you."

"R-Right," I gulped and nodded. Thank god she couldn't read minds, otherwise I'd be in deep trouble. I pulled her into a light hug as she continued to slurp her smoothie until it was empty, making that loud, annoying sound. I slapped it out of her hand and she giggled, then leaned against me and yawned, letting her head press against my shoulder. Resting my chin on her head, I looked outside again, thinking, "What if it's a bust?" What if they didn't want me?

"Then we'll find some other place to live," she said again, her eyes closed and leaned more against me.

"Where? The bus?" I chuckled as she moved to lay across the seats, head in my lap and yawning again. Her knees were brought in close as she kicked her smoothie to the ground. I picked it up and set it under my seat.

"No," she groaned, clearly wanting to nap.

I smiled and brushed some hair out of her face, taking in her cute cheeks and pretty skin. If she were normal- no, she's beautiful the way she was. I couldn't see her as anything else. Without ITex she wouldn't even be here, and without me, she wouldn't even be alive. I had to stop thinking like that. If things were different, I would've never found out I was adopted, or had a twin brother, or met this wonderful little girl. Her personality lightened up every moment I've been alive.

"Why are you petting me," she mumbled, batting at my hand on her head.

I withdrew and smiled, "Sorry, just thinking."

She rolled over to turn her body towards me and looked up, eyes droopy from our day of travelling. She yawned, "About what?"

"Nothing," I tucked some hair behind her ear. "Just happy; happy you're with me."

She moved her arms to hug me despite her awkward position, "Me too; I'm happy to be with you."

I draped an arm around her body to pull her close towards me, steadying her as we went over a bump in the road. We embraced each other until I realized that she fell asleep; her eyes closed and all of her body weight on me. Chuckling, I kept her close as the ride progressed towards, hopefully, my home.

* * *

"Amber- Amber we're here," my shoulder jostled and my eyes opened to Speck. It was nearly night and the lights in the bus shone brightly. The bus driver had the doors open and eagerly tapping his foot. There was nobody else on the bus either, meaning this was the last stop of the evening.

Blinking, I rubbed my eyes and sat up, then pulled to a stand by Speck. "Did I really fall asleep?" I mumbled as I reached for my bag.

"Yeah, and you snored really loudly," Speck snickered as we walked off the bus and waved the driver goodbye. He sped off as I stretched to try and wake myself up. With a yawn I looked around us.

We were dropped off right in front of a park, where its lights dimly shone along the sidewalk. I only could make out a few people milling around, but none of them seemed suspicious, but I had to keep my guard up. The sun had already set and stars started dotting the sky, which meant we couldn't do much but find a spot to rest until morning. I hitched my bag over my shoulder and reached out for Speck's hand.

"Come on," I told her, and she eagerly gripped my fingers. We began our walk through the park, keeping to the most lit areas while also seeking out somewhere to sleep. There wasn't much, only a small sculpture and several trees, but I doubted that Speck would be okay with sleeping with the squirrels. I saw a figure cross in the distance and I slowed our walking, but it paid no attention to us and continued its way. I let out a soft sigh and felt my fingers squeeze.

"Maybe we could take a bench?" Speck suggested, pointing out a bench not too far away.

I wrinkled my nose, "I don't know. Too open, not enough shelter- would you be opposed to the trees again?" I nodded towards the pretty oak towering over the bench.

"Won't we get in trouble?" her big eyes matched with mine. This seemed like a pretty big park, big enough that I did see a sign in the distance saying to not climb the trees.

"Not if we're careful," I guided her toward the tree and hoisted her up onto one of the branches. Holding on, she inched her way a little to the side so I could join her. We then scurried around to find a couple overlapping branches forming a perfect nook for us to sleep. I took off my pack and hung it on a lower branch as Speck shimmied out of hers while straddling the branch.

"Are you sure?" she shakily peered down to the ground.

I chuckled and pulled her towards me, adjusting myself so I was tucked between the branches so I wouldn't slip. She clung to me as I changed my position so she could lay comfortably with me. Smiling, she nuzzled into me and rested her head on my chest. After a few minutes of getting comfortable, I opened my mouth to say something but was interrupted by her light snoring.

"And you said _I_ snored," I smiled and let my head rest against the branch, my eyes drifting to a close the more I tried to keep them open. But I couldn't fight the tiredness overwhelming me and fell asleep.

* * *

I have to say, sleeping in a tree really does a toll on your back, especially when you have a seven-year-old sprawled on top of you. She definitely had a better sleep than me. I woke up barely able to move whereas Speck was yawning and saying, "Good morning" with a smile on her face.

"Morning," I grunted as she shifted her weight to one of the branches so I could sit up. I stretched and twisted my back to the best of my ability and rolled my shoulders. My wings ached tremendously, like I was hiking for days with one of those huge backpacks with everything in them. Great.

"I'm hungry," Speck said as I arched by back again.

"You're always hungry," I huffed as I reached for my bag. All we had left were protein bars, and I knew that wasn't going to be enough. I tossed her one and she eagerly ripped into it. "Let's get the card first and get food before we go find my parents." The thought of them made me pause in the middle of my chewing. My _parents_. I was going to see them today. What will they think of me? Will they even remember me?

"Okie dokie," she shot me a thumbs up.

I jumped down and glanced around the park to see who was there. Only a few joggers here and there, and a guy trying to tame the ten dogs he was trying to walk, but that was all. I reached up for Speck as she slid off her branch into my arms. Setting her down I looked around again. No officers, no Erasers, nobody to yell at us to not sleep in trees. It was weird. It made me feel antsy. I tightened the straps of my bag and let out a shaky sigh.

"You okay?" Speck glanced up at me and squeezed my hand.

"Yeah," I replied, squeezing back. "Let's go."


	34. Chapter 34

The entire time we took getting the credit card and grabbing some food felt like eons. Waiting in line at the bank made my insides coil up. Receiving our card at the desk made my stomach churn. Eating food made me sick to my stomach. I actually couldn't eat anything, I was too anxious. Speck tried to ease my senses but it wasn't helping. I wanted to calm down before I saw them, but I was so sure that they wouldn't recognize me and all the work I went through to find them was a waste of time and they wouldn't believe my backstory and everything and either way they weren't going to want me because of my freakish additions.

Yet now I was standing just across the street, staring at the suburban two-story belonging to my biological parents. I felt sweat roll down the back of my neck. My heart pounded, my stomach fluttered, my guts yelling at me that this wasn't a good idea, my mind swirling in anxiety-

"You can do this," I heard Speck next to me.

"C-Can I?" I stuttered, still staring at their front door wishing they would just come out and welcome me into their arms. But no; the saturated blue door stayed shut. Were they even home? What if they think I'm just a solicitor? Or a kid asking for signatures for a cause? Or burglars? Or crazy kids at the wrong house? Or-

"Amber!"

I blinked and looked down at Speck's hard determined face, "You. Can. Do. This." She stared intently into my eyes and I started to realize how shaky I was. She was holding my hands and was still as a tree; I was shaking like a broken lawn mower. "I'm right here," she said, squeezing my hands.

I let out an unsteady breath and lightly nodded, "Okay."

We turned back towards the house and crossed the street, every step I thought I was going to collapse, pausing just before the little pathway up to the door. I stared at it again, but Speck pulling me towards it shook me from my thoughts. She hastily pressed the doorbell button and my thoughts turned to, 'Warning' 'Trap' 'Run' 'Get out of here'- my heart racing, my head swarming - the door opened.

"Can I help you?"

My jaw dropped at the sight of the lady in front of me. It was like looking in a mirror. We shared the exact same blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair. Hers stretched long, combed and perfect, whereas mine was stringier. Her face was different, but the freckles and skin tone were the same. It had to be her, but the more I studied her up and down, she narrowed her eyes as if she was mad at us. "We're already subscribed to The Post."

"Oh- uh-" I stuttered, stumbling with my words.

"Are you Mrs. Griffiths?" Speck piped up, finishing my thought. Thank god she was here with me.

The woman raised an eyebrow at her, "Yes I am. Is there something I can do for you?" Her expression softened and my heart skipped a beat. This was her. My mom. My actual, living, biological mom. I couldn't believe it. She was here, right in front of me. My _mom_! I started to feel tears in the corners of my eyes.

"Mom?" I whispered.

She froze at my words; her eyes widening at me as if I said the worst thing in the world. Time stopped for a second, but as it slowly crawled back to normal speed, she shook her head, "No- don't do this- not again." Her eyes started to glisten and it was my turn to be surprised.

"A-Again?" I choked out.

"Don't do this to me! Go away!" she stepped back to slam the door on us, but Speck caught it with her foot. She gaped at her.

"Wait-" Speck kept her foot wedged between the door and frame. "What do you mean again?"

"You're not m-my child-" the lady hiccupped, causing all blood to fade from my face. "Y-You're not James-"

"James?" I managed to say with a steady voice. Who was James? Was that- "My brother?"

When I said that word her eyes widened even more, then glistened and just started pouring. Her sobs broke through and she crumpled to the ground, hugging herself as she cried. Speck looked at me, surprised that this was happening. I was too. I was also very confused. What did she mean by again? When she said James, did she mean by brother? Wait- did she already _meet_ him? I watched her as she sobbed, not for sure what to do. If she really was my mother, which I just knew she was, there was no doubt about it, I had to do something.

Moving to sit down next to her in the little foyer of her home, I moved a hand to her shoulder. She jumped, making me jump, and she locked eyes with me. My breathing became heavier as we looked at each other- what was she thinking? Did she recognize me? Did she forget me? Did she even know who I was?

"Y-You're..." she sniffed, looking at my features and trying to piece me together. I gulped. _Oh please. Please, please,_ please _recognize me!_ "Jenna?"

I shakily raised my shoulders, "M-Maybe?"

She blinked several times, trying to register what I was saying. I gulped and glanced at Speck, who just nodded eagerly to tell her what we knew. I let out a shaky breath, ready to continue, but my mom jumped in before me, "Y-You're alive?"

My heart sank. It _was_ true. Everything that they said. My fake parents; they told me that I was declared dead to them. My own parents. My own mother. They told her that I _died_! But how? Why?

"H-Hi mom," I mustered to say.

She hiccupped and turned away from me. She was still doubting it; I couldn't blame her. Being told your daughter died and realizing she's been alive all this time? How else would she react? But I still wanted to know: how? When?

"A-Are you really..." I blinked up at her as she reached towards my face. I instinctively froze, making her pause before cupping my cheek in her hands. The feeling of her fingers brushing my skin made me shiver, but as she looked at me her eyes changed from surprise to what I could only decipher as upmost compassion, "Jenna... m-my baby girl."

"Mom," I breathed, and then we embraced each other. It _was_ her. My mom. My actual, breathing, biological mom. I finally found her. I buried my face into her shoulder and squeezed harder, my emotions swarming me and I cried. My mom. She was here. I was here. I found her.

* * *

"I-I don't know where to start..."

I shifted in my seat. She was sitting down across from me in her own chair, smiling and holding a photo to her chest. Speck was lightly kicking her legs on the couch, and I had to nudge her to stop fidgeting. After our sob fest, she had to go get tissues and Speck and I were left waiting in the doorway. The more I looked around the house, the more I felt out of place. It was clean, nicely placed, and looked like any ordinary, modern-day home. Her couches were a pale cream, and had a dining room placed just around the corner. The carpeted floor made me more cautious about where I stepped. I was like a dirty needle in a pristine haystack.

Now we were sitting across from each other, too afraid to speak up first. I wish Speck would say something, but this wasn't her mom. I hoped to god that she would accept both of us.

"I guess we could... um..." I scrambled for the right words. "They told you I was dead?"

She paused and looked away, obviously thinking. She let out a deep breath and replied, "I-I went into labor weeks before the date, and Tom rushed me to the hospital." Tom. Tom must be my dad. She continued, "When I got there, they said something was wrong with one of you." She rubbed her eye with a light smile, "You wanted out so badly, but... when you were born... you weren't breathing."

I froze and instantly thought of the occasional asthma attacks I get. I always thought it was because of the weird mutations.

"They took you from my arms," she covered her eyes. "They took you from the room. They tried to resuscitate you, but..." She choked on her words and my face fell. Speck took hold of my hand and I weakly squeezed back. That's how I died; that's how they took me from them.

She placed a hand to her mouth, trying to contain her sobs, "You were gone, they wouldn't let me see you, but I knew, y-you were gone." My heart sank at her words. Did I really die? Or were they just lying? I wanted to know every single little detail, to find some clue, but I couldn't push it. It made me sick to see her like this, my _mom_ , having to go through with losing her own daughter.

I tried to swallow my own sobs and asked, "A-And... my brother?"

Her eyes glistened again, "He was born weeks later." She sniffed and rubbed her nose with another tissue, "I never thought I would lose both of you; I never thought somebody would take him- didn't I suffer enough with losing you?" Her body started to shake and I leaned forward to hold her hand. Surprised, she glanced up at me and I gently smiled at her.

"But I'm here now, I'm okay," I comforted her.

She shook her head and turned from me, "That's what James said-"

"You've seen him?" Speck piped in, startling me to almost knock over the plant on the table between us. I shot her a look to not interrupt and she innocently shrugged her shoulders.

"Yes," mom's voice fell, pulling the photo from her chest. I could see that the photo was of a baby swaddled and held to an exhausted mother. That was him. My brother. "But he left- he left us- w-we love him." She hugged the photo once more and closed her eyes.

"Where'd he go?" I asked eagerly.

"I don't know," she sniffled. "He just left in the middle of the day. He didn't even leave a note- He didn't love us." She started to cry again and I leaned over to hold her hand again.

"Of course he did!" I interjected, squeezing her hand in assurance. Who wouldn't? Why would he leave? If he was alive, and was taken by ITex, escaped and met his own birth mom, why would he leave? It made no sense. I looked at her up and down, wondering if there was another side to her that I didn't know about. The thought made me tense up, but I had to keep my cool, "Where would you think he'd go?"

"Probably with those other winged kids..." she huffed, wiping her nose again.

I froze. _Winged... kids?_ I glanced at Speck and she had the same expression on her face as me. He _was_ alive. He _did_ have wings. And he was showing them off with the acrobatic-flying environmental group.


	35. Chapter 35

My insides felt like they were about to explode from the information I just heard. He was one of _them_. Those kids flying to save the planet. Those kids, using their wings as entertainment. But they _weren't_. They were stitched onto them. Mutated with them. How was that _entertainment_? And to have my brother be with them? Somewhere deep down I wished there were another group of kids with wings out there, but there was only one I knew of. And my own _brother_ was showing them off. My fists clenched. _How could he? How dare he!_

"You _saw_ them?" I heard Speck ask. My eyes blinked to present to see her staring at me. It took me a second to realize what was just said. Winged. Children. She saw them. My eyes widened - she knew. I looked up at my mom.

She nodded, "He came with them. They arrived at my door and-" She glanced down at the picture in her hands. "I saw him," she breathed. "It was him, my baby boy, standing in front of me."

"What did he say?" my voice wavering.

"Nothing until we brought them all inside," I could see her eyes glazing over, remembering the moment. "He wasn't looking at me, he wasn't looking... at all." She covered her face again, "He told me he was blind, that somebody did it to him, but he was _here_." She gripped the arm rest of the chair as I stared in disbelief.

 _Blind? How d- They did that._ My heart sank. Those ITex freaks made him blind. But how? Why? Compared to what I've been through, being blind would be a liability, like asthma attacks. I had to cover my mouth to hide my shocked expression. _They messed up; they screwed up and he ended up blind._ That was the only reason I could think of. They wouldn't intentionally do something that major; yet if they did, they truly were psychos.

"You said he was with winged kids? Do you mean those kids on tv?" Speck asked for me. I had to thank her later for helping me through this.

Mom nodded, "Yes, they were all looking for their parents. James was their first." Her head fell and I could tell something must have happened. The wings maybe?

"And he..." I asked, not for sure how else to say it without making it sound bad.

"Yes," she breathed, her expression now changing, strangely enough, to admiration. "He did have wings. They were glorious, beautiful, almost knocked over one of my vases, but beautiful." I tensed up a little bit, not for sure what to think of that. I guess if I really looked in a mirror they were pretty, but she seemed to be mesmerized by the idea. I saw them more as a freakish addition.

"Why did he leave?" I managed to muster, afraid of what mom might say.

Instead, she just shook her head and didn't look my way. My heart sank and wondered if my brother was even nice. Was he rude to them? Did he hate them? Was he afraid of them? The thought of the winged kids came back and I questioned if he considered them like family. I didn't know much of them, but reading off of Fang's blog, I could tell they were close knit. He probably missed them, realizing they couldn't stay here with him _and_ his parents. Too many mutants under one roof? People would start to notice.

I glanced up at mom again. Would she even accept _me_? I also had wings, plus more, and I couldn't just abandon Speck. My eyes grazed over to her to see her fingering the hem of her shirt. I did see her more than just a friend. She saved me, and I saved her. The thought of even parting from her made me sick. She was like a sister to me. But would mom accept her? My stomach churned even more at the thought of leaving her just like James did. I couldn't just do that, she was my _mom_. But I knew I wouldn't get answers by just speculating.

"U-Um," I started, feeling a shiver run through me. How do I even ask this? Would you let both of us stay despite we're also freaks of nature? Speck noticed my anxiousness and glanced at me, then moved to hold my hand. We matched eyes and I could tell she was thinking the same thing. _How_ _do we tell her? How do we even ask?_

I felt mom's eyes on me again and peered over at her, seeing as she wasn't upset and more curious than anything. _Oh god_.

"Are... are you...?" she looked just behind my shoulders and I stiffened. _Oh god oh god._

I stiffly nodded. I heard her exhale in dismay and I closed my eyes. I couldn't believe I was doing this; my insides were swirling like soup, and I could feel my heartbeat in my ears. A soft nudge registered on my arm, and I knew I had to show them. Shakily moving my legs to stand, I steadied myself to avoid tipping over. I stared at the coffee table for a few seconds, trying to calm my racing heart, then let out a shaky sigh as I rolled my shoulders.

The gasp I heard made me shake even more, until I felt a small hand grip mine eagerly. I peeled my eyes open to see mom with her hands over her mouth, eyes wide as she stared up at my wings. Despite being hyped up from anxiety, being able to relax my wings felt great. I couldn't help but stretch them a little and mom's eyes widened even more. I gulped.

"They're..." I braced myself, then jumped when I felt her fingers graze some of my feathers. She retreated and looked at them again. "Beautiful."

I blinked away a tear and hung my head. I guess they were, despite being embedded into me like a lab rat. Allowing them to fold behind my back again, I hugged my torso and tried to talk myself out of showing the rest of me. But I couldn't. I had to tell her. "T-That's not all..." I kept my attention to the floor, my breathing still short as I heard her shift in her seat. I unsteadily moved my hand up to my ears and moved my hair. Once I tucked my hair behind both ears, I relaxed them as well, but not hearing mom reacting. I glanced at her. She was more confused than anything. I continued to move my hand to the back of my pants and started fishing out my tail. With that, she started to move away from me in her seat. My heart wrenched at the look in her eyes: fear. I let my tail hang behind me, just above my pants line and eyed her expression. Fear, upmost fear in her eyes. And to see the scales on me too? She stared at my skin, then at me and shook her head.

"W-What..." she put a hand to her mouth and I took a step back, holding my arms close and feeling like all blood left my body. I blinked away the tears coming in. Of course she wouldn't. She never would. I'm a freak, a freak of nature, and I can't do anything about it. I closed my eyes and turned away from her. She wouldn't accept me. Not with this, not all of this. Maybe with just the wings, but not me. I wasn't like my brother. I wasn't like anybody. I was a freak.

"I-I'm s-sorry..." I managed to muster, feeling even more tears coming on. I was ready to go, ready to leave, ready to be kicked out-

I felt arms wrap around me and opened my eyes. Mom was hugging me, her head just shy of mine and her face was resting against my shoulder. My breath caught and I was at a loss of what to do. She was... hugging me? But why? I was a freak, a nothing, a nobody, and she was hugging me?

"Don't be, oh, sweetie," I felt her squeeze me and her hand reached up to pet my overlong hair. I stiffened, keeping myself from pushing back from the sudden embrace. I felt my heart swell at her next words, "You'll always be my daughter, wings, tail, everything."

My eyes glistened and I almost went to hug her back, but it felt too good to be true. It felt too surreal. I closed my eyes and replayed her words in my head. "B-But..."

"I'm not letting you go. Never again," she held me even tighter to her chest, and I could feel her heart racing. Her tone was defiant, like she seriously refused to let me leave, causing my heart to swell even more. She did care, she did want me, she wasn't going to let me go. She wouldn't lie, not in this close proximity. She cared, she wanted me, she truly wanted me back.

I moved my arms so I could hug her back and she accepted it, letting me hold her slim body close to me as well. Closing my eyes, I hugged her as tight as possible without crushing her and let my head rest against hers. My _mom_. My actual, breathing, once-in-a-lifetime mom. She cared about me despite all of these freakish additions. She cared about me despite having a tail. She cared about me despite not being completely human. _Is this what a mother's love truly is like?_ It had to be; I was sure of it. No normal person would accept me, but she did. She loved me. And I loved her.


	36. Chapter 36

"I can't believe I have my own room!"

I beamed as Speck ran around the room, hopping on the bed and oohing at the little desk and lamp provided. She opened the closet and threw herself in, coming out covered in dust and sneezing. Running over to the window, she slid it open and basked in the sunlight. She opened her arms and smiled brightly, "This is so so cool!"

I chuckled and watched as she went back to flop on the bed. She landed face first into the pillows and snow-angeled the fabric. "So comfy," she muffled before rolling onto her back with a big grin on her face. "This is so cool!" she exclaimed again. Sitting up she glanced towards me in the doorway and asked, "What about your room?"

My room was actually the guest room, and had the typical queen-sized bed and nightstand, along with a small closet full of old clothes and a vanity with a nice chair in front of it. Since we didn't have much aside from our bags, I took out the laptop and placed it there and went searching for an outlet when I heard Speck squealing in the next room.

"I got a bigger bed than you," I teased.

"No fair!" she pouted and flopped back onto her twin xl.

"Well at least you get a nice view," I walked over to the window and looked out into the world, letting out a sigh of happiness.

I never thought we would get to this point. After literally exposing what I was, mom was determined to keep me under her roof. She told me that despite all she did for James, he still left. I told her that I had a condition for staying, and she already jumped the gun and turned to hug Speck as well. Seeing her brown eyes glisten made my heart swell so much it felt way too surreal. Mom kept rambling on how she better not be dreaming, squeezed me again, then went straight to the phone to call up Dad. _Dad_. I had a dad as well, and by the sound of her conversation, he was coming home soon.

"This is so cool," she shuffled up next to me and stared out, watching the lady push her stroller down the sidewalk, hearing the sound of a basketball drum against the ground, feeling the carpet under our feet – it really was surreal. My insides were still leaping that I was finally home. I'll never see my old parents again, but at that thought my insides started to settle into an uncomfortable position.

How will my new parents, my actual parents, treat me? As much as I wanted to say better than my first ones, I actually hoped they were as good. My life was perfect and happy before. I remembered the trip to the Grand Canyon, my first time riding a bike, nearly everything that my mind could remember. The pinpoints, the moments, everything they used to hide what they really were, what they intended to do with me. Will my birth parents treat me as well, with, of course, the intention of just purely loving me?

"Hey," my shoulder jostled, pushing my thoughts away. Speck gazed up at me, "We're okay."

I shakily nodded, "I know we are." I placed my hand on hers and continued to gaze outside. The more I tried not to think about the bad things though, the more thoughts came flooding in. We were still on the run. What if they found us? What if ITex found us again? They wouldn't just grab us and toss us into cages. They had no use of us anymore. They would execute me, and I couldn't imagine what they would do to a renegade. My stomach twisted at even thinking of Mom and Dad. They wouldn't let them live, and I couldn't just let them die. But I couldn't just leave them, I just got here. I just got home.

"You're not okay."

I stared down at my white knuckles gripping the windowpane. I wasn't okay. Of course I was happy, but from everything that has happened to me, I couldn't just let it go. It changed me. It created me. How could I go back to a normal life? How could anybody, aside from my adoring mom, and hopefully dad, and Speck, accept me? I couldn't hide this. It was a part of me. This feeling, this gut feeling that I can't stay in one place. It wasn't safe. I didn't feel safe.

"Am-"

"How are you two doing?"

I spun to see Mom standing in the doorway, her hair tangled and eyes still red from earlier. I must have looked just like her because her face fell, recognizing I wasn't doing well at all. "Tom, your dad, should be home soon, he had to get off work," she paused, glancing at the open window. "Please... please don't-"

"We're not going anywhere," Speck jumped in just as I opened my mouth. We shared a glance before she continued. "We're just... we just went through a lot." I squeezed her hand.

"That's okay," Mom gently smiled. "We can work with that."

She then let out a breath she was holding and stated, "You two must be hungry, I'll make some lunch." With that she walked downstairs, leaving us in the room that was meant for me. Yet the more I looked at it, the more I realized it was designed for two. The paint was faded but stood out enough to see the faded blue and pink cords. The dresser was loosely bolted to the wall, and there were odd shapes on furniture that must have come from stickers. I traced the old glue on one of them while Speck sat back on the bed, creaking just the slightest.

"We can," she stared around before settling on the door. "I mean... we can get through this. We have to. It's a dream come true."

"It is," I joined her on the bed, glancing out the window again. It was a dream come true. Especially for her. She grew up in a cage for god's sake, of course she's wanted this. I can't just take that away from her, but I couldn't just put it all behind me either. She must have heard me sigh because she caught my eye and stared at me.

"I don't want to leave," her voice just on the edge of trembling.

"We won't," I kissed her forehead. "But we still have to be careful."

* * *

When dad got home I had to fight myself from pushing him away. He just wouldn't stop hugging me, holding me against his chest as he sobbed over my hair. He also was determined to keep me here and swore to never let me out of his sight. I thought that was a bit much, but maybe this was how a father felt for his daughter. He also looked like me, but his hair was a bit lighter and wore thin-framed glasses. He faintly smelled of paper, so I guessed he came from an office. He asked me everything he could think of: when I got here, how I got here, where I came from... the works. Then he asked me if I was like James.

I hung my head a little and nodded. He stiffened and looked me over, obviously curious just like mom was. So I went through the whole ordeal again. I unfurled my wings, revealed my ears and tail, and pointed out my scales that weren't tattoos. His demeanor was different than mom's.

"Those monsters," he growled.

I joined Speck on the sofa again and held her hand. At least he was in agreement with that, but he added something I wasn't expecting:

"They will pay for this."

Our eyes widened. What did _that_ mean? Was this what James left for? Because he wanted revenge and decided to go tell everybody his story? Or was it just a front he set up? My fingers pinched my pants, wondering what to say to that. Of course I wanted justice, but that would just make things worse. He had to understand that.

"Please don't do anything," I told him. His glasses flashed as he stared at me, his eyebrows pinched in confusion. "You... you can't tell people..."

"We want them prosecuted. Kidnapping and torturing kids," he glanced at Speck and me. "It's inexcusable."

"B-"

"You went through that, you want that to happen again?" Mom cut in.

"No- of course not, bu-"

"You two are living proof, the only proof-"

"No we aren't!" Speck shouted. All eyes turned towards her, my face red in frustration as she added, "Those winged kids are already doing that; we shouldn't have to. All we did was escape. They also have the government on their side, protecting them from attacks." She fished out something from her jacket pocket, revealing a newspaper article with the title _Bird Kids Fight Back_ and a picture of a girl kicking a flying creature. My heart skipped a beat. Wasn't that one of those flying things we ran into not long ago? "They have people, and they don't have to worry about others getting hurt."

Both Mom and Dad looked at each other, realization slowly coming to them.

"So you're saying that-"

"They will find us," I finally said, closing my eyes and briefly imagining them barging into the house, ransacking the place and not caring who they hurt... or kill. "A-And we can't protect you, not unless..."

"No," Dad shook his head. "You're not going anywhere. I can't- we can't-" He choked, not wanting to accept the idea that we would have to leave.

"We don't want to, but if you want to sell a story, we have to," I tried to keep my voice steady. "I... I don't want to put your lives at risk..."

Nobody said anything. I could hear a fly buzzing in the next room over as both mom and dad simmered over the matter. Of course they're mad, I still am. But I was also terrified of what could happen. Even being here for just a day was setting me on edge. But I didn't want to leave, they were my _parents_. I had to see them. I had to be with them. This, being here, was my only solace. But of course, the more safe I felt, the more anxious I felt. I covered my face with my hands. It was confusing. Stay? Go? I just wanted a break from it all, from all the running and restless nights. I needed it. We both did. The boxing match in my mind wasn't helping.

I felt arms wrap around me and opened my eyes. Mom was tightly hugging me and resting her head against mine. I shakily breathed and felt her squeeze me tighter. "We won't. We will do anything to keep you here. Anything."

The sides of my mouth turned up slightly, water beginning to pool in my eyes. I relaxed my body against hers, just wanting to not worry about it all. Wishing that everything would just stop, freeze, and let me live the life that I wanted.

"I want to be here," I muttered, feeling Mom's fingers brush my hair.

"Good," she breathed. "I want you here too." She released me and hugged Speck as well, who also had tears forming in her eyes. "And you too. You shouldn't be living on the streets. We'll take care of you."

I felt a weight lift off my chest, allowing me to breathe even more freely now. I smiled, I actually, genuinely, smiled at her. "Thanks Mom," I said, then turned to Dad. "Thanks Dad." They both also seemed to be breathing differently, as if they needed to hear me address them like that. Well of course they did. They were my parents. I was home, and I was with my family.


	37. Chapter 37

The next morning I woke up with my heartbeat in my ears. I sat up quickly, my breathing heavy and my vision still adjusting. I was running, screaming, I felt a sharp pain in my chest, where- where am I? _Calm down_. I tried to steady my breathing and peered around, listening for growling, a gun clicking... but everything was still. _Huh?_

I blinked, trying to remember. I was in a bed, a _bed?_ I gripped the sheets then pulled at my shirt, realizing it wasn't a hospital gown but my tattered striped shirt. Memories from yesterday finally came flooding in. I wasn't there. I escaped. I was free.

I let out a shaky breath and swung my legs over the bed, trying to suppress my fear with excitement of my first day of being home. I stood, the sheets rolling off me in folds as I wiggled my bare toes against the carpet.

 _Home_.

I closed my eyes briefly and heard a familiar snore not too far. Smiling, I tiptoed across the hall towards Speck's room. Her door was cracked and I peered in, expecting her to be sprawled all over the bed, only to see a bundle of blankets. My pulse quickened as I cautiously walked over, feeling around only to grab handfuls of fabric. _No, no no no-_ I sprinted back to my room and flew to my bag, hanging it upside down to empty it. The laptop banged against the table, snacks bouncing onto the floor, everything I shook out. My hands grabbed for everything, anything, trying to figure out how I could find her, who took her, who would leave me behind-

"What's wrong?" someone moaned from the bed.

I whipped my head up to see Speck sitting up in _my_ bed, rubbing her eyes and hair everywhere. She drowsily stared at me frozen in place, trying to rack my brain on how she even got there. "H-How did you- why aren't you-" my breaths were short.

"I couldn't sleep," she grumbled. Her eyes were droopy as she yawned, trying to wake herself up. "You kicked a lot."

Now that she said that, I vaguely remembered waking up to my door creaking last night. I was half-awake when she crawled in my bed to join me. I guess she didn't like being apart from me, even if it was just across the hall.

I let out a shaky sigh and joined her in bed, pulling her into a hug while calming my racing heart. "Sorry, I forgot you joined me last night."

"It's okay," she muffled against my shoulder. Pulling away, she yawned again and looked up at me with concern in her eyes. "Bad dreams?"

I nodded and brushed her hair with my fingers. Despite being in a comfortable bed and place to live, my subconscious didn't want me to forget what might happen. What could happen. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, trying to dismiss it, "Sorry for kicking you."

"Sorry for scaring you," she stretched her arms over her head and stood out of bed. Her clothes were all wrinkled and the frog shirt's tag was sticking out. Not to mention the rips and tears in her leggings. She turned around, "Do you think they're awake?"

I glanced towards the hallway, "I don't know, we should be quiet just in case."

"Okay," she started tiptoeing towards the door. "I'm hungry, do you think they have food?"

I joined her, tugging down on my shirt to at least look somewhat decent. "Yeah, but make sure we don't eat the entire fridge."

We cautiously stepped down the stairs which creaked at every step. Speck tried to coordinate her steps with mine but it just made the creaking louder. She bumped into me, almost making me tumble, and I had to shush her giggling. Once we touched the first floor, Mom turned the corner wearing an apron and scaring me half to death. Speck squealed and I nearly doubled over.

"Goodness!" Mom put a hand to her chest. "I was hoping you two were still asleep."

"No, we're up," I breathed, steadying myself. I sniffed and my eyes widened. Was that sausage? I turned towards it and breathed in. No, it was eggs, no- pancakes. What was this delicious scent?

"Hungry?" a heard her smile. "I made some breakfast for you, before I got back to work."

"Yes!" Speck beamed, only to be jabbed by my elbow. "Please."

We followed Mom into the kitchen to be welcomed by a plethora of food. Pancakes, sausage, toast, eggs, bacon; I was in heaven. There was also milk and juice out, with butter and cream cheese on the side, and jelly and hot sauce if we wanted.

"Go ahead and dig in, there's plenty where it came from," Mom smiled.

And we did just that.

* * *

"So I was thinking," Mom walked back in just as we finished our thirds on food. I managed to eat four pancakes and two helpings of eggs and sausage while downing three glasses of orange juice. Speck ate nearly all of the bacon so I had to fight for some pickings. We glanced up at her from lounging in the chairs. "After I finish my work for the day, would you like to go shopping? You need some better clothes."

I flushed, embarrassed that she noticed our uptake of cleanliness. What could we do though? We didn't have the money to wear nice clothes every day. At least we had something covering our backs. I shared a gaze with Speck, knowing full well we needed it. We had to get out of these old rags. Plus, they reeked. We didn't have soap and water to keep up a good hygiene. When I smelled my pits this morning, I gagged.

"That would be nice but," I stated. "We don't have any money."

"Nonsense! You don't have to worry about that," Mom offered. "You're my daughter, of course I'm going to buy you things."

I flushed even more while Speck did a mini fist pump. Mom softly smiled and put a hand on my shoulder, making me jump a little so she retreated. "Why don't you relax and wash up before we head out? I'll be done in about an hour." She took our empty plates and took them to the kitchen and started washing. Feeling useless I started collecting the salt and pepper and glassware to take to the kitchen. Speck stayed lounging in her chair, eyes closed, and I knew she wouldn't think of helping so I didn't push her. But once the sound of running water and dishes clinking got to her, she joined in.

After we finished the dishes, Mom grabbed us some fresh towels and went back to her computer. She never really said what she worked on, but it seemed pretty important so I didn't push. Speck smiled and hopped up the stairs to claim the shower first, slamming the door behind me with a squeal. I banged on it just as she started the water, "Don't use up all the hot water!" I heard an "okay!" and walked back to my room. I tossed my towel on the bed and flopped down, reveling in this feeling.

 _Home_. I was finally in a house, a place I could call my own, and a room too. I fingered the sheets and rolled onto my side, relaxing my wings a bit over the edge. It felt amazing to finally let them breathe. I closed my eyes and thought of my future here. I thought of going on vacations with my parents, a nice dinner at the table every night, watching movies on the tv, maybe even going back to school. All the things any normal teenager does. But I wasn't normal.

I adjusted my position, thinking. Would I be able to walk freely around, pointing at the statues and monuments as we travelled? What about these wings? And would I even be able to go to school again? What would other kids think of me? Gym class, I couldn't do a gym class without hurting someone or revealing myself. Not to mention being mocked for these scales. People may think something other than tattoos; maybe a disease or skin condition. And not to mention having my tail shoved down my pants every day, it was uncomfortable, and it made me unbalanced. What about my ears? I couldn't wear a hat or hood all the time, and the bandana doesn't help that much either. I hugged myself.

I wasn't normal. I was never going to be normal. I would have to go beyond myself to even act normal. How could I blend into this society? Was escaping really the best option? Should I have just stayed there, acted and pushed myself the way they wanted me to be, just to have some kind of life where I was accepted for being this freaky? Why didn't I just stay? Why did I have to be executed? Why was I turned into this? Why was I so stupid? Why-

"Shower's open."

I jumped to see Speck standing in my doorway, hair glistening and clothes damp. A small towel hung around her neck. Her face fell when she saw me curled up on the bed, shaking, and my head twisted in my thoughts.

"Are you oka-"

"Fine," I stood up and grabbed my towel. I walked over and squeezed past her, heading for the bathroom. I didn't want to tell her what I was thinking, I didn't want to worry her or ruin this for her. This was her moment, her dream, and nothing should stop her.

"Amber-"

"I'm fine Speck," I said before closing the door and beginning to undress.

"Are you sure? You looked... worried," she spoke through the door.

"Yeah, you know me," I shimmied out of my pants and tossed them into the corner of my other dirty clothes. "Always the worrier."

I didn't hear her respond so I assumed she left. I went to start the shower. The soap was grimy from Speck's use and little clusters of black hair stuck to the tile. I took the shower head and started rinsing around before I went back to try and comb my hair with my fingers. Glancing in the mirror, I stared at my skinny figure. When was the last time I saw myself in a mirror? I paused and let my hair fall to my elbows. I definitely looked older, but not tall and skinny like I used to be. Instead I looked more muscular than anything. My arms and legs were well defined, and my stomach flat from malnutrition, and I could still see areas of bone around my ribs, shoulders, and neck.

My wings hung behind me in layers of ruby and crimson, large feathers overlapping each other as I flexed and shifted my body. They really were beautiful, the more I looked at them. The stark contrast between their red and my strawberry hair stood out under the bathroom lights. Not to mention the fur on my ears and tail. I leaned forward to analyze them. The golden fur spotted in regular cheetah pattern. I lifted my left arm to gaze at the scales on my shoulder, which glistened in the light. I really was a wonder to behold. The more I looked at myself, the more I realized how much different I was. The more I looked, the more feelings of hatred and awe filled me.

"Are you shaving or something?" Speck called behind the door.

I couldn't hold back my laugh, "What? No I'm not!"

"Well don't take forever!"

"Okay!" I stepped into the shower and let the water hit my skin. I closed my eyes and let it rain down my hair, into my feathers, trickle down my tail, and nourish my scales. Fresh water. It felt amazing on my skin. It took me a few minutes to climb out from the sensation to really wash myself. It took a while, but I was able to change the dirty water to fairly clear and step out into a nice warm towel. I managed to use up the rest of the hot water, leaving steam on the mirror. I wiped it with my arm to see myself only to spit out a laugh. A knock on the door paused me to crack it open, seeing Speck with a curious face. I made sure I was in a towel and invited her in and showed her my puffed-up wings. It was hard not to whack her with one since the bathroom was so small, so I had to stretch them out and make them look even more ridiculous. She laughed, saying I looked like an angry bird, which made me laugh even harder.

I missed this.

* * *

a/n: So sorry for the late update on this, my life has gotten crazy and it's been extremely difficult to do much of anything. I'm still writing when I can, but a lot is affecting me (which has caused a horrible writer's block, I apologize for that). I will try to post once a week, on Saturdays in the afternoon-evenings. 3 you all for supporting my story!


End file.
